Running Again
by mynameisella
Summary: After choosing to leave the Doctor, she has stumbled upon him once more. Unfortunately, it's the wrong Doctor. And, he's taken an interest in her. Ten/Clara
1. Prologue: Tenth

Prologue: Tenth

Clara Oswald walked down the street in a suburb outside London, walking the rescue dog Angie and Artie had recently gotten from their parents as an Easter present. She was passing Artie's school- his parents didn't want him going to school in the city- when she saw it.

That blue box. What had she called it? A snog box- that's right! The Police Public Snog Box- he had always hated it when she called it that.

Why was he there? He knew Artie went to school there. Hell, he had sneaked Artie out of school once to take him to the first ever theme park! Was he coming to visit her? Did he miss her?

She didn't care, she told herself. She was the one who had walked away. It had been a simple choice. He had found someone else to travel with, and she felt she wasn't welcome anymore. Of course, he had never said anything, but she could see it. Plus, the time between going home to take care of Angie and Artie was becoming too wide. She had felt it was best to go home. And he had let her.

Bravely, she marched up to the door of the TARDIS, rapping her knuckles briskly on the wood. The door opened, and an attractive man in a brown suit stood before her. Instantly, Clara knew her mistake. This was not either of the Doctors she had ever met. This was the tenth Doctor.

"Sorry," she mumbled, tugging on the dog leash. "I just-"

"Who are you?" He asked, stopping her from walking away. He stepped fully out of the TARDIS.

"No one," she insisted, making to leave.

"Only special people can see her." The Doctor said softly, glancing at his beautiful time machine. "She has a perception filter. Only people who know her can see her."

"Oh. Um-"

"Have I met you before?" He looked at her curiously. She found herself blushing under his stare. Every time she had helped this Doctor while in his time stream, she had never been face to face with him. She had to admit that he was very handsome.

"No." Yes. "No, you haven't. I don't know why your perception thing didn't work on me." She backed up. From her time with the Doctor, she knew a few things about timelines. It wouldn't be good for him to meet her before he was supposed to meet her. He had never noticed any of her echoes helping him, so the Dalek asylum should be his first time meeting her. Not here. Not now. Not in front of a stupid school, while this stupid dog stretched the leash with all its might so that it could chase a squirrel.

A pretty blonde girl poked her head out of the doorway. "Who's this?"

The Doctor looked lost for words. "Um-"

"Clara." Clara replied immediately. The Doctor grinned.

"Clara." He repeated, liking the way her name rolled on his tongue. "I was just asking Clara if she wanted to come with us." Rose looked exasperated.

"Mickey and Clara both?" She asked, hands on her hips.

"Oh, I can't!" Clara protested. "Really, I-" She faltered at the sad look on his face. How could she say no to that face? "Yea. Sure. Just, give me a moment to drop the dog off at home."

Clara scurried off. Luckily for her, Artie's aunt lived nearby. Clara explained that she needed to run into a store for a moment, and Aunt Lynn was glad to watch the dog for her.

Clara was halfway back to the TARDIS when she halted. Could she really rewrite the Doctor's history?

By now, she could see this Doctor. One look at the smile on his face answered that question for her. Yes. Yes, she could.


	2. The Girl in the Fireplace, Part One

The Girl in the Fireplace, Part One

Clara admired the interior of the TARDIS. It was so different from the TARDIS she knew. It was warmer. Happier. For a moment, she wondered if the TARDIS hated her for something she did to this one, rather than just hating her like she had always assumed.

Rose and Mickey had been introduced to Clara. Mickey seemed perfectly friendly. Rose, on the other hand, seemed a little annoyed. She wasn't mean, but she wasn't exactly welcoming.

"Now! Mickey, Clara," the Doctor looked excited. "Where shall we go first?"

lalala

"It's a spaceship. Brilliant! I got a spaceship on my first go." Mickey shouted as they filed out of the TARDIS. Clara admired the spaceship, glancing out the window. She saw the familiar, yet still beautiful view of deep space. All of them accidentally kicked bits of equipment that was just lying around.

"It looks kind of abandoned." Clara commented, purposefully kicking a piece of pipe.

"Anyone on board?" Rose called down a hallway. The Doctor shook his head, having a look around himself.

"Nah, nothing here. Well, nothing dangerous." He paused for a moment, winking at Clara. "Well, not _that_ dangerous. You know what, I'll just have a quick scan, in case there's anything dangerous." He pulled out his screwdriver and began scanning. Clara was surprised to see that the screwdriver was completely different than the one her Doctor used. It was sleeker, silver, and had a round, blue top.

"So, what's the date?" Rose asked, glancing unhappily between Clara and the Doctor. "How far we gone?" The Doctor tore his eyes from Clara's and checked his screwdriver.

"About three thousand years into your future, give or take." He slipped the screwdriver back into his coat pocket. He felt around for a light switch and flicked it, causing a skylight to appear in the roof. "Fifty first century. Diagmar Cluster; you're a long way from home, Mickey, Clara. Two and a half galaxies."

"Wow..." Clara whispered. She glanced at the Doctor and couldn't help but think about how different he was from the Doctor she knew. She couldn't even describe it, he was just different. How he treated her, how he explained everything. His excitement for traveling was different, even!

"It's so realistic!" Mickey exclaimed, face glued to the window.

"It _is _real." Clara reminded him, picking up a broken pocket watch. She thought it looked neat, so she slipped it into her small purse. The Doctor, meanwhile, had been scouring the area more thoroughly.

"Dear me, had some cowboys in here." He commented. "Got a ton of repair work going on. Now that's odd. Look at that." He pointed at an engine. Rose, Mickey, and Clara crowded around him for a peek.

"All the warp engines are going. Full capacity. There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe, but we're not moving." He explained. He scrunched his eyebrows. "So where's all that power going?"

"Where'd all the crew go?" Rose wondered, looking around.

"Yea," Clara was thinking hard. "The ship is running, but no one's running it."

"Great observation, Rose!" The Doctor said. "No life readings on board. No one to run the ship."

"So how's it running?" Mickey asked.

"Well, we're in deep space. They didn't just nip out for a quick fag." Rose said. The Doctor shook his head.

"No, I've checked all the smoking pods." He paused and sniffed. "Can you smell that?"

"Yea, someone's cooking." Rose replied after sniffing. Clara inhaled deeply.

"Barbeque?" She asked. "On a spaceship?" Mickey sniffed a few times.

"No." He sniffed again. "Sunday roast. Definitely." The Doctor pressed a button on the wall and opened a door.

"This way?" He, jokingly, offered Clara his arm. Clara, used to linking arms with her Doctor, slipped her arm into his easily.

The far end of the wide room had a gorgeous, ornate fireplace. Vaguely, Clara remembered this fireplace. But, since her time in the Doctor's time stream, the things her echoes did had faded from her memory. She really only remembered faces at this point.

"Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship." The two approached the fireplace, Rose and Mickey behind. "Eighteenth century. French. Nice mantle. Not a hologram. It's not even a reproduction. This actually is an eighteenth century French fireplace. Double sided. There's another room through there." Rose looked out of a porthole that was on the same wall as the fireplace.

"There can't be. That's the outer hull of the ship. Look." She pointed out the window. Clara nodded.

Clara, meanwhile, had followed the Doctor's example of trying to peer through the fireplace into the other room. A pretty, seven year old girl appeared in front of them.

"Hello." Clara said gently.

"Hello." The girl replied, looking slightly afraid of them.

"What's your name?" The Doctor asked kindly.

"Reinette." She answered shortly. The Doctor grinned

"What a beautiful name." Clara told her, smiling. Reinette smiled shyly back at her. Clara had always had a way with children.

"She's right, Reinette, that's a lovely name." He paused for a moment, scratching behind his ear as he thought. "Can you tell me where you are at the moment, Reinette?" Reinette giggled, as if this were an absurd question.

"In my bedroom." She answered. The Doctor and Clara shared a look.

"And where's your bedroom?" He asked.

"Where do you live, Reinette?" Clara reiterated for the young girl.

"Paris, of course." Both the Doctor and Clara began nodding, as if that were obvious.

"Paris, right!" He exclaimed. Reinette was quiet a moment.

"Monsieur, Madame, what are you doing in my fireplace?" She asked awkwardly, almost as if she didn't want to bring it up. The Doctor shrugged, standing up a bit to act like he was inspecting the fireplace.

"Oh, it's just a routine fire check." He said, knocking on the wood a few times. Clara followed his example- having done so many times with her Doctor- and inspected the tile on the ground. "Can you tell me what year it is?" The Doctor was trying to be casual, but not doing a very good job. _Well, that hasn't changed_. Clara thought.

"Of course I can. Seventeen hundred and twenty seven." Reinette was very matter of fact with her answer, pleased she was correct. The Doctor nodded.

"Right, lovely." He said thoughtfully. "One of my favourites. August is rubbish though. Stay indoors." Clara nudged him.

"I don't think you're supposed to tell people the future, are you?" She asked, acting as if this really was her first time traveling adventure.

"Right. Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night, night." The Doctor stood and moved away from the fireplace, taking Clara with him.

"Goodnight Monsieur. Good night, Madame." Clara stopped for a second.

"I don't know much French, but shouldn't she be calling me '_Mademoiselle_'?" She asked, half pointing as the now empty fireplace. The Doctor shrugged.

"She thinks we're married." He replied lightly. Clara noticed that he wasn't looking at Rose when he said that, and wondered if that was on purpose. Rose did not look happy at that answer.

"Wait a minute. You said this was the fifty first century." Mickey reminded the Doctor.

"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe. I think we just found the hole." He looked at it closely once more, slipping a pair of glasses on. Clara's cheeks heated up; if he was handsome before the glasses, he was even more now. "Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink."

"What's that?"Clara asked. She had never heard the Doctor use that term before.

"No idea. Just made it up." He grinned at her sheepishly. "Didn't want to say magic door." Clara couldn't help but giggle for a second. Sure, the Doctor she knew was goofy and all, but this one was just dorky and cute.

"And on the other side of the magic door is France in 1727?" Rose butted in.

"Well, she was speaking French. Right period French, too." The Doctor replied.

"She was speaking English, I heard her." Mickey insisted, confused. Too late, Clara added a soft, "Yea!" when she remembered that she wasn't supposed to know that the TARDIS translates for you.

"That's the TARDIS. Translates for you." Rose told Mickey, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Even French?" Mickey clarified, as if French were harder to translate than an alien language of barks and growls.

"Yeah."

"Gotcha!" The Doctor shouted, pulling everyone's attention back to him. The floor of the fireplace began to move, taking the Doctor and Clara with it.

"Doctor!" Rose cried out as they disappeared into the wall.

"What did you do?!" Clara grabbed onto the mantle of the fireplace to keep from falling. Half a second later, not even listening to the Doctor's answer, she was gawking at the incredibly beautiful bedroom of young Reinette.

* * *

**A/N:** I just want to butt in and say that I see you guys favoriting and following this story, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd review as well! Love ya! x


	3. The Girl in the Fireplace, Part Two

The Girl in the Fireplace, Part Two

Clara glanced around the whole room. Something didn't feel right. She spotted Reinette sleeping in her bed. Snow was falling outside the window. Clara took a step forward, causing the floor to creak. Reinette woke with a start.

"It's okay!" The Doctor said quickly, holding his hands up. "Don't scream. It's us. It's the fireplace man and woman. Look." Clara cut him off.

"We were talking just a moment ago." She reminded the young French girl. "We were in your fireplace." The Doctor used his screwdriver to light a candle so that Reinette could see that it was, indeed, them.

"Madame, that was weeks ago. That was months!" Reniette sat up, bunching her blankets in her lap. The Doctor and Clara shared a look.

"Really?" Clara asked. "I swear it was only a moment ago." Reinette shook her head, her blonde hair catching the candlelight.

"Must be a loose connection." The Doctor said to Clara, who nodded. "Need to get a man in." He said to Reinette, joking. She didn't laugh.

"Who are you? Both of you? And what are you doing here, in my room, in the middle of the night?" The Doctor began to make up some story while Clara figured out why she had a bad feeling. Her eyes had landed on the broken clock.

"Okay, that's scary." She declared, pointing at it.

"You're scared of a broken clock?" Reinette asked, a bit of a giggle in her voice.

"Just a bit scared, yeah. Just a little tiny bit."

"What's so scary about a broken clock?" Reinette inquired, sitting up on her knees. The Doctor made a small noise, obviously understanding what Clara was hinting at.

"Well,you see, if this clock's broken, and it's the only clock in the room, then what's that ticking noise?" As if to underscore Clara's rhetorical question, the ticking seemed to get louder.

"That's not a clock. You can tell by the resonance." The Doctor paused to listen to the ticking. Tick tock. Tick tock. It seemed to be echoing.

"It sounds too big," Reinette whispered, sounding a little scared now.

"Way too big. Six feet, I'd say. The size of a man." The Doctor moved closer to Reinette's bed.

"What is it?" Clara asked, following him. He held out a hand to keep her from coming too close to the bed.

"Now, let's think. If you were a thing that ticked and you were hiding in someone's bedroom, first thing you do, break the clock. No one notices the sound of one clock ticking, but two? You might start to wonder if you're really alone." The Doctor knelt down by the side of the bed. "Stay on the bed. Right in the middle." Reinette scooted forward, sitting perfectly in the middle of her bed, hands in her lap. "Don't put your hands or feet over the edge." She nodded. The Doctor stuck his screwdriver under the bed. Clara gave a shout when it was kicked out of his hand. She shrieked again when she saw it.

"Reinette, don't look round." Clara whispered quickly, afraid Reinette would see it and get even more scared. The inner nanny in her was coming out (not that it had been there when she ran off with the Doctor). A tall figure, wearing a creepy, old-fashioned, clown like mask and a curly wig was looming over little Reinette.

"Reinette, stay exactly where you are. Hold still, let me look." The Doctor, keeping his eyes on the clown, placed his hands on either side of Reinette's face, two fingers on her temple and one on her cheekbone. "Clara, grab my screwdriver and keep it pointed at it." Clara nodded and plucked the screwdriver from the wood floor. Yet another difference between her Doctor and this one; she had never been allowed to hold the screwdriver before.

Trusting that Clara could stop the clown if it moved- which she probably couldn't- the Doctor looked deep into Reinette's eyes. He looked almost offended by what he saw.

"You've been scanning her brain! What, you've crossed two galaxies and thousands of years just to scan a child's brain?" The clown did not indicate it even heard the Doctor as he yelled at it. "What could there be in a little girl's mind worth blowing a hole in the universe?" Still, it did not react.

"I don't understand. It wants me? You want me?" She had turned to face the clown, biting her tongue to stop from crying out.

"Not yet. You are incomplete." A mechanical voice came from the clown.

" Incomplete? What's that mean, incomplete?" Clara asked, bravely taking a step closer to the bed. She still had the screwdriver extended, finger on the button.

"You can answer her, you can answer us. What do you mean, incomplete?" The Doctor demanded, facing the clown full on. The clown jerkily walked around the bed, moving to face the Doctor. A blade shot out of its hand. Clara's eyes widened. She pressed the button on the screwdriver, but nothing happened.

"Monsieur, be careful!" Reinette pleaded, clutching her blanket tightly. The Doctor didn't speak, waiting for the clown to strike. Clara noticed tears in Reinette's eyes. Slipping the screwdriver into the Doctor's hand, Clara sat on the bed and hugged her.

"It's just a nightmare, Reinette, don't worry about it." She sad soothingly, petting her head. Lying of course, but Reinette seemed to calm down. "Everyone has nightmares."

Suddenly, the clown slashed his blade, narrowly missing the Doctor as he dodged.

"Even monsters from under the bed have nightmares, don't you, monster?" He taunted. The clowns blade had gotten stuck in the mantlepiece behind the Doctor. The Doctor gestured for Clara to stand next to him, so she ran over to the side the clown wasn't on.

"What do monsters have nightmares about?" Reinette wondered. With a pointed look from the Doctor, Clara activated the fireplace. They began rotating.

"Me!" He shouted.

The fireplace locked into place with a _CLANG._

"Doctor!" Rose shouted, jumping up from her seat on the ground. Mickey followed suit. The Doctor grabbed a tube lying on a half broken rack and sprayed its contents over the clown. It froze.

"Excellent." Mickey said, poking the frozen clown. "Ice gun."

"Fire extinguisher." The Doctor corrected, tossing the empty can to him.

"Where did that thing come from?" Rose demanded. The Doctor shrugged.

"Here."

"So why is it dressed like that?" Mickey asked, eyeing the obnoxious, colorful jester outfit the clown wore.

"Field trip to France. Some kind of basic camouflage protocol. Nice needlework, shame about the face." The Doctor replied. Clara looked at its face and saw that the mask had been ruined by the fire extinguisher.

"What's underneath the mask?" Clara asked, looking up at the Doctor. He raised his eyebrows, clearly finding delight in everything going on.

"Why don't you find out?" He suggested. She smirked and took his advice, lifting the mask up carefully. Underneath the mask was a clear, head shaped container with a bunch of golden wheels and chains. It was like the inside of a clock, which explained the ticking noise.

"Oh, you are beautiful!" The Doctor breathed, awed by the intricate work on this android. "No, really, you are. You're gorgeous! Look at that. Space age clockwork, I love it. I've got chills! Listen, seriously, I mean this from the heart, and, by the way, count those, it would be a crime, it would be an act of vandalism to disassemble you. But that won't stop me." He held up his screwdriver with an excited look on his face, only to be disappointed when the android beamed away in a bright white light.

"What the hell just happened?" Clara asked.

"Short range teleport. Can't have got far. Could still be on board." He began towards the fireplace. Clara followed on his heels, as well as Mickey and Rose.

"What is it?" Rose asked. The Doctor halted, turning to the three of them.

"Don't go looking for it!" He said sternly. He turned to leave again.

"Where're you going?" Rose shouted.

"Back in a sec." He called casually over his shoulder. He stepped on the fireplace again.

"Oi! Shouldn't I come, too?" Clara asked. "Reinette does know me." The Doctor shook his head.

"Too dangerous." Scoffing, Clara crossed her arms. It was a bit daunting that he considered this too dangerous. She _had_ faced an Ice Warrior on her own, faced a Cyber-Doctor, and jumped into the Doctor's time stream, saved him thousands of times, and lived to tell the tale. Of course, this Doctor didn't know about that, but still.

Rose picked up a giant gun, grinning to herself.

"He said not to go looking for it!" Mickey protested. Rose licked her lips, smile still on her face.

"Yea, he did." Mickey couldn't help but grin as well, and picked up his own gun. "Now you're getting it!" The two ran off, leaving Clara on her own.

"Well, fine, then." Clara stalked off in her own direction, no gun on her. It wasn't long until she found the clown. Except, it was a different one. It grabbed her and hit her hard on the head, knocking her out.


	4. The Girl in the Fireplace, Part Three

The Girl in the Fireplace, Part Three

Clara moaned, her head aching, as she slowly woke up. As per usual, she made to stretch, but found that she couldn't. She became aware that she was strapped down to a rather uncomfortable table, which was slanted upwards. She looked to her left and saw that Rose and Mickey were strapped to similar tables.

"Oh, look." Rose nodded towards her. "She's finally up!" Clara, momentarily forgetting that her wrists were tied to the table, made to rub her throbbing head.

"It's no use; they're really tight." Mickey told her, having already given up on getting out.

"What's happening?" Clara mumbled, still a bit groggy from her impromptu nap.

"They're gonna chop us up, just like they did to the crew." Rose replied dryly. Clara's brown eyes widened and she tried to sit up, only to bang her head on the metal table. "Ow."

Rose, shortly, explained how she and Mickey had found an eyeball and a heart worked into the mainframe and keeping the ship running.

"That's what the barbeque smell was," Clara realized. Suddenly, she felt like she was going to throw up. "Oh my God." Out of the corner of her eye, Clara noticed that the androids were in the room, even the one who had knocked her out. But, not the one that had been stalking Reinette.

"And where's the Doctor?" Mickey asked sharply, glaring at Rose. "Where's your precious Doctor now? He's been gone for flipping hours, that's where he is!"

"You are compatible." The robotic voice of the clown sounded cold as the blade grew from its hand. It leaned down over Clara, placing the blade near her heart. Clara's stomach went from nauseated to stone in two seconds. Rose laughed nervously as another one prepared to cut out her stomach.

"Well, you might want to think about that." She tried to wag her finger at the android that had spoken. Its blade was frighteningly close to Clara's skin by now. "You really, really, might, because the three of us, we didn't come here alone."

"Oh no. And trust me, you wouldn't want to mess with our designated driver." Clara jumped in, looking up at the eyeless eye sockets in the clown's mask. The clown's blade suddenly grew a cogged spinning wheel, which was now millimeters from Clara. It spun very fast, and Clara's heart started beating even faster. She found herself wishing for her Doctor. _Her _Doctor wouldn't have let this happen. Her Doctor wouldn't have let her get caught like this, and not even be around to help her out of the mess.

"Ever heard of the Daleks? Remember them?" Rose's voice grew higher as her android placed the tip of its blade on her belly. "They had a name for our friend. They had myths about him, and a name. They called him the-" _CRASH! BANG! _All of the androids stood straight, looking in the direction of the noise. Singing began to echo off the hallway walls, drifting into the room. Clearly, the singer was very, very drunk.

"I could've danced all night, I could've danced all night!" The singing grew louder and, if possible, drunker.

"They called him the-" Rose tried again, but the singing drowned her out. "They called him the- the-" She gave up when the Doctor swaggered into the room, a golden goblet in hand. Clara- had she not been so close to losing her heart- would have been amused by the striped tie around his head.

"And still have begged for more. I could've spread my wings and done a thou." The Doctor finished his song, smiling drunkenly at the three of them. He didn't seem to notice the androids at all. "Have you met the French? My god, they know how to party." He sauntered around the table and leaned close to Clara's head, using his arm to prop his head up. He grinned down at her and she tried to glare at him, but found that she couldn't. Not only was it hard because of his good looks, but it was hard because there was no alcohol on his breath. He wasn't really drunk. Clara winked at him, letting him know she knew. He winked back, big and theatrical.

"Oh, look at what the cat dragged in." Rose sounded pissed. "The Oncoming Storm." The Doctor scoffed.

"Oh, you sound just like your mother."

"What've you been doing? Where've you been?" Rose demanded, sounding more and more like someone's mother. The Doctor stood, holding his goblet up. He kept up the drunk facade.

"Well, among other things, I think just invented the banana daiquiri a few centuries early. Do you know, they've never even seen a banana before. Always take a banana to a party, Rose." He had walked around Clara's table by that point and tapped Rose on the nose when he said her name. She rolled her eyes, not impressed by him in the least bit. Vaguely, Clara wondered if Rose was always like this, or if it was just today. "Bananas are good." The Doctor finally took notice of the clowns.

"Oh ho, ho, ho, ho, brilliant. It's you. You're my favourite, you are." He poked one of them in the chest. "You are the best! Do you know why? Because you're so thick. You're Mister Thick Thick Thickity Thick Face from Thicktown, Thickania." He paused a moment. "And so's your dad. Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for? Her milometer. They want to know how old she is." He grinned at Rose, Mickey, and Clara. Clara was the only one to smile back, even though she was confused.

"Know why?" He asked, looking only at her. She shrugged awkwardly.

"Why?"

He barked out a laugh. "Because this ship is thirty seven years old, and they think that when Reinette is thirty seven, when she's complete, then her brain will be compatible. So, that's what you're missing, isn't it, hmm? Command circuit. Your computer. Your ship needs a brain. And for some reason, God knows what, only the brain of Madame de Pompadour will do." The android didn't speak for a moment.

"The brain is compatible." It replied.

"Compatible? If you believe that, you probably believe this is a glass of wine." The Doctor ripped off the clown's mask and pour a red liquid into its head. The clockwork inside the head seized up.

"Multigrain anti-oil. If it moves, it doesn't." The Doctor explained, moving to the console in the room. He flicked a switch, and all the androids fell forward, turned off. "Right, you three, that's enough lying about. Time we got the rest of the ship turned off." He freed Clara from her constraints first, then Rose, then Mickey. Mickey stood, looking at the comatose androids warily.

"Are those things safe?" The Doctor nodded.

"Yeah. Safe. Safe and thick, way I like them." He clapped his hands. "Okay. All the time windows are controlled from here. I need to close them all down. Zeus plugs. Where are my Zeus plugs? I had them a minute ago. I was using them as castanets." He searched for his Zeus plugs.

"Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was thirty seven?" Clara asked. "Why the windows to when she was seven?" The Doctor grinned at her, as if she had asked the best question that had ever been asked.

"With the amount of damage to these circuits, they did well to hit the right century. Trial and error after that." The Doctor frowned at the console. "The windows aren't closing. Why won't they close?"

All four of them jumped when a shrill bell began ringing.

"What's that?" Rose asked, looking up in the direction of the bell.

"I don't know. Incoming message?" The Doctor guessed.

"From who?" Mickey asked slowly. The Doctor took a deep, steadying breath.

"Report from the field. One of them must still be out there with Reinette. That's why I can't close the windows. There's an override." The android that the Doctor had spilled on woke up, expelling the anti-oil from its finger into Clara's face, who had just happened to be standing next to it. She sputtered, spitting the bitter, red liquid from her mouth and wiping it from her eyes.

"Well, that was a bit clever." The Doctor said. A click came from the console. "Right. Many things about this are not good. Message from one of your little friends? Anything interesting?"

"She is complete. It begins." With a flash, all of the clowns teleported out.

"What's happening?" Rose and Clara asked in unison. Clara didn't notice Rose's dirty look. The Doctor, on the other hand, did. He ignored it; there were more pressing matters at hand.

"One of them must have found the right time window. Now it's time to send in the troops. And this time they're bringing back her head."

lalala

Clara was not happy. Rose had been sent to warn a thirty-two year old Reinette about the androids going after her. Mickey was sent to wait for her outside the window. The Doctor was to go through the window that the androids went through and save the day. And where was Clara?

Outside the TARDIS.

"Stupid Time Lord." Clara grumbled, pulling the broken pocket watch out of her purse. It had writing engraved on it. She ran her fingers over the word. _Teacher._

Clara sighed and slipped it back into her purse. She didn't want to stay out there anymore, so she went inside to explore this TARDIS. She figured, since this one liked her, she didn't have to worry about getting lost.

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you so much for the reviews and favorites and follows! Please, please keep it up!


	5. You're Special

You're Special

Clara found herself in the library and had been surprised to find that it was very different than the library she knew. She really shouldn't have been so shocked, as the rest of the TARDIS was so different as well. She had been roaming the giant library for a while when she heard her name being called.

"Yea?" She shouted, climbing down a ladder to answer whoever was calling her. The Doctor appeared in the doorway. He grinned when he spotted the pile of books Clara had formed on a coffee table.

"I see you found the library." He commented. Clara nodded, tucking her hair behind her ears. She had taken her hair out of its ponytail after deciding to roam the TARDIS.

"Yea, I went exploring." She answered. The Doctor stared at her face a moment, frowning. "What?"

"Are you sure we haven't met before?" He asked bluntly. "There have been too many weird things about you, Clara."

"I'm positive we haven't met." Clara lied. She paused a moment. "And, what sort of weird things?" He raised his eyebrows, seeing through her lie. He didn't comment on it.

"Well," he began. "The TARDIS perception filter didn't work on you, for one." He replied slowly. Clara shrugged nonchalantly, sitting on a loveseat.

"Maybe the perception filter is faulty." She suggested lightly. The Doctor scoffed, sitting beside her. As if to accent him, the TARDIS seemed to scoff, as well. "Or, maybe I'm just special." Clara corrected quickly, not wanting this TARDIS to hate her. She actually liked the TARDIS liking her.

"Yea..." The Doctor's mind seemed to go somewhere else as he continued to stare at her. "Special." She waited a moment.

"Is that the only weird thing?" Clara asked, hoping it was. Her question broke whatever trance he was in.

"No. You didn't even ask what my screwdriver was." He continued, pulling his silver sonic screwdriver out of his jacket pocket. Clara admired it- secretly, she liked this one better than the gold one her Doctor had. It seemed she was liking more things about this Doctor than her Doctor.

"I figured it was a space scanner thing." She replied hastily, remembering that he had used it to scan for life on the spaceship. "I didn't think I was expected to ask about it."

"Well, not expected to- but it's still strange. Everyone asks."

"Well, I'm not everyone."

"Clearly." Clara was thrown off for a second. What did that mean? "We were in France and you didn't even ask why you could understand the language."

"I actually speak French fluently." Clara retorted, crossing her arms. That wasn't quite true, but it wasn't a total lie, either; she had been taking online classes, but she was nowhere near fluent. She had been thinking of au pairing in France once Artie and Angie didn't need her anymore. The Doctor beamed, surprised.

"Oh!" He said.

"Besides, Mickey asked about it. I found out." Clara said simply, picking up a book. She was trying to get the conversation to end. No luck there.

"You're different." He murmured, seemingly talking more to himself than to her. "You're special." Clara glanced at the Doctor, and her cheeks burned when she saw how intensely he was staring at her.

"So, you saved Reinette?" Clara asked, voice a little higher than usual. The Doctor nodded shortly, looking at his lap. He didn't look happy. After a moment, he pulled a thick piece of folded paper from his jacket pocket.

"She wrote this for you." Clara gingerly took the paper, running her fingers over the parchment. Abruptly, he stood and left, leaving her alone in the library. She watched him as he walked off, wondering what could have made him so upset at the mention of Reinette.

Clara broke the wax seal on the paper and unfolded the letter.

_Clara,_

_ I have not seen you since I was a child, but I expect you are as real as the Doctor. I don't expect that the Doctor will make it back to me in time- I am getting older every day, and yet he has not come. I looked forward to seeing the universe with the both of you._

_ Take care of him, Clara. He is so lonely, and he needs someone more than that Rose girl. There is no one other than you I would trust to care for him; he is special to the both of us._

_ I hope you enjoy your time never taking the slow path. I hope you enjoy your time with the Doctor. And, I hope you go after him, the same way I went after the king. He would become yours in a heartbeat. He is a special man, and I can tell that you are a special woman, as well._

_ Thank you for being my imaginary friend, and helping me keep my nightmares away._

_Reinette, Madame de Pompadour_

Clara's head was spinning after she finished reading the letter for multiple reasons. Her little Reinette was the most famous French woman _ever_?! The Doctor had offered for her to travel with him? How had she known Clara's name- she was sure she had never said it.

"Go after the Doctor"? Reinette must have been a little out of it when she wrote that. The Doctor would not "become hers in a heartbeat".

Clara found herself crying over the letter. Reinette was going to travel with them and see the universe, but she had to take the slow way. She must have died before the Doctor made it back to her. The little, seven year old girl she had protected from the androids had remembered Clara her entire life, and had died before she could actually see what the universe had to offer.

"Clara?" Clara looked up through her tears to see Rose standing next to her. Rose looked concerned and sat next to her. She spotted the letter. "You got a letter, too." Clara could only nod, too choked up to speak. Rose, being a hell of a lot nicer to her than she had ever been, pulled Clara into a hug. She didn't ask about the letter at all. She just held Clara while she cried.

Clara clutched the letter in her hands, grateful that Rose was being kind to her. She had wondered why Rose didn't seem to like her, but at least Rose was setting that aside.

For now.

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks for reading! I hope you liked the chapter. Now that school has started, chapters might be coming out a bit slower, but hopefully they will be at least once a week. Please, let me know what you thought in a review!


	6. Getting Out

Getting Out

Clara sat in her bedroom on the TARDIS, flipping the broken pocket watch in her hands. The TARDIS jostled and jerked, but she was used to it. She was able to stay put in her bed, barely moving as the TARDIS landed with its signature "vwoorp, vwoorp".

It had been roughly a month and a half since she had joined this Doctor. Over that time, Clara had gotten very comfortable with this Doctor, in this TARDIS, with Rose, and with Mickey. In the back of her mind, she knew she had fallen for this Doctor, the same way she had fallen for the future Doctor. She fought those thoughts, though.

Not only was she setting herself up for heartbreak, but she could see the way Rose looked at him. Ever since that night in the library, Rose was a bit kinder to Clara, but the two of them would never be friends. Clara still felt Rose glare at the back of her head whenever the Doctor winked at her or smiled at her, but Rose was nice when she and Clara were talking. Clara could see that her presence had interrupted something between the two of them- the thought of that made her heart ache.

That had been the real reason she left the Doctor initially. She knew she was setting herself up for heartbreak, especially when he found another companion. She had gotten out. And, now here she was, making the same mistakes all over again. This time, though, she couldn't get herself to walk away.

She had been sitting on her bed for the past hour trying to convince herself to leave. She couldn't. She just couldn't.

"Clara?" There was a soft knock on her open door. Clara looked up from the golden watch to see the Doctor standing in the doorway.

"Yea?" She asked, slipping the watch back into her purse.

"We've landed." He announced lamely, as if that wasn't what he really wanted to say. Clara nodded.

"Yea. I could tell." She replied. "Where are we?" The Doctor scratched behind his ear.

"Powell Estate, 2006." He replied, leaning against the doorframe. "Rose wanted to see her mum." Clara nodded.

"Okay." She slung the purse over her shoulder and stood up. She walked over to the Doctor, who didn't move. He just looked at her, smiling to himself. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing!" He answered, just a bit too quickly. "You wanna go meet Rose's mum? Just a warning, but Jackie can be a bit rough around the edges." He warned. Clara rolled her eyes.

"Parents _love _me." Clara declared. "I'm a nanny, after all." The Doctor slipped his hand into hers, causing her heart to flutter. She ignored it and let him lead her to the console room and out of the TARDIS. Clara looked around at the quaint estate that Rose lived in and had a surge of homesickness. She pushed it aside and went up the stairs and into Rose and Jackie's apartment.

"- could at least pick up a phone once in a while!" Jackie seemed to be lecturing Rose on not calling or visiting enough as they walked inside. Rose shut her mum up by hugging her, whispering apologies. Jackie noticed Clara after she finished squeezing her daughter.

"And who's this?" Jackie asked, looking from Rose to Mickey to the Doctor. Clara stuck out her hand, approaching her.

"Clara Oswald. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Tyler." Clara smiled warmly at Jackie, giving the woman her best 'meeting parents' smile. For a split second, Clara thought that Jackie was going to yell at her for something- for what, Clara didn't know- but then Jackie beamed at her and pulled her in for a tight hug.

"It's so nice to meet you!" Jackie exclaimed. She pulled away from Clara, but kept her hands on her shoulders. "And, it's Jackie." Clara nodded, giggling a little. She was a bit taken aback by Rose's mother. Before she could say anything more, Jackie moved on to give the Doctor a hug.

Soon enough, Jackie had convinced them all to sit down for a homemade dinner. Even the Doctor, who was against it, sat down in between Rose and Clara and ate a plate of fish and chips. Clara had missed this part of normal life; it was nice to sit around a table and just have a nice dinner. It reminded Clara of when her mother was alive. She, her mother, and her father would always eat dinner at the table and talk about their day. Her mother had insisted that they do it. She claimed it was "proper". After she died, Clara and her father hadn't kept up with that tradition.

Eventually, the Doctor announced that it was time they get going. He, Clara, and Mickey all stood up at once. Rose was slower to stand. She slid a hand in her pocket and leaned on the back of her chair.

"Actually, um, I think I'm gonna stay." Rose announced. She looked at the Doctor only, waiting to see his reaction. Clara glanced at him and saw that he looked gobsmacked.

"Oh. Uh- yea. Okay. If that- if that's what you want." The Doctor stumbled over his words. Rose nodded.

"Yea. It is."

"Rose, come on! Why do you want to stay _here_- no offense, Jackie- when you can go see the whole of time and space? I mean-" Mickey tried to change her mind. It looked like he wasn't sure if he wanted to continue traveling with the Doctor if Rose wasn't there, but at the same time he still wanted to travel.

"Because I want to stay with my mum." Rose snapped at him. "It's my decision and I want to stay."

"She's right." Clara felt bad, and felt like she had to speak up for Rose. It seemed that history was repeating itself, as Rose was doing that same thing Clara had done with the future Doctor. New companion came into the picture, and now she's stepping aside. She's getting out. "It's her choice."

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry it's been a while since I updated! I hope you like this chapter- coughreviewcough- and I promise the next chapter will be an episode chapter. Thanks for reading!


	7. Rise of the Cybermen, Part One

Rise of the Cybermen, Part One

Clara bustled around the kitchen as the TARDIS rumbled and bounced in the Time Vortex. She had convinced the Doctor to let her make a homemade dinner for the three of them. She had claimed that it was because she was worried she'd forget how to cook if she didn't do it now and then. In all honesty, she wanted to steer Mickey and the Doctor's minds away from Rose. She could tell that they were both upset that she left and Clara wanted both of them to feel better.

"Ooh, something smells good." The Doctor surprised Clara when he appeared in the doorway. She jumped a little.

"Thanks." She said, tucking her hair behind her ears. "The lasagna will be out soon." She turned back to the bowl that was in front of her, whisking the contents quickly.

"What's that?" Before she could answer, he stuck his finger in the bowl and licked it, tasting the batter, "Oh! You're making souffles?" She grinned.

"Yep! And, this time, I will be Souffle Girl!" She declared, pouring the batter into little pans. The Doctor laughed at her silliness. The timer for the lasagna went off and The Doctor took the pasta out of the oven for her as she turned the shrill timer off.

"Alright, then. Let me pop these into the oven, then we can eat." Clara told him, carrying the three souffles over to the oven. "Go fetch Mickey, will you?" The Doctor nodded and left the kitchen, heading out to the console room. Just as Clara was setting the timer for the souffles, she heard the Doctor speak.

" Mickey, food's- what're you doing that for?" He sounded genuinely confused. Clara wondered what he was talking about and went to the console room to find out. Mickey was sitting in the captain's chair, his finger holding a blue button down.

"Because you told me to." Mickey was saying, looking up at the Doctor. Sheepishly, thr Doctor scratched behind his ear.

"When was that?" He asked lightly.

"About half an hour ago." Mickey replied. The Doctor paused a moment.

"Er, you can let go now." He told Mickey. Mickey took his finger off of the button and stood up, arms crossed.

"Well, how long's it been since I could've stopped?" He demanded. Clara hurried over to the two or them. She placed a hand on Mickey's arm, worried he would get angry with the Doctor. It was a bit obvious to her that the Doctor had forgotten about Mickey.

"Ten minutes? Twenty?" The Doctor acted like he was guessing. "Twenty nine?" He mumbled, looking down. Mickey gasped, offended.

"You just forgot me!" He accused.

"No, no, no. I was just, I was, I was checking on Clara. I didn't forget-" Before he could complete his lie, the TARDIS shuddered and the power went off. The TARDIS seemed to land with a _thud_.

"What's happened?" Clara asked. She had grabbed a pillar to prevent herself from falling over. The Doctor grabbed the screen, pressing a few buttons on the console. He pulled his glasses- which he didn't really need- and looked closer.

"The time vortex is gone. That's impossible. It's just gone." He muttered, frantically trying to fix whatever happened. "Brace yourself! We're going to crash!" The TARDIS seemed to tilt, before crashing hard. Gas masks dropped from the ceiling.

"Everyone all right?" Clara called, clinging more to the pillar. "Doctor? Mickey?"

"I'm fine. I'm okay." Mickey answered from his spot, clutching the captain's chair. "Sorry."

"Doctor?" Clara asked again, unable to see him from the angle she was at.

"She's dead." The Doctor breathed, standing back up and trying to get a response from the living machine. "The TARDIS is dead."

"You can fix it, though. Right?" Clara asked, letting go of the pillar. She hurried over to the Doctor, flipping a random switch, hoping to get some result. The Doctor took his glasses off and stood up straight. He slipped the glasses back into his pocket.

"There's nothing to fix. She's perished." He told her. She looked up at him and her heart broke. He looked so devastated. "The last TARDIS in the universe. Extinct."

"We can get help, yeah?" Mickey asked, walking to the Doctor's other side. He placed a hand on the Doctor's shoulder.

"Where from?" The Doctor asked dryly. Clara shrugged.

"Well, we've landed. We've got to be somewhere." She stated. The Doctor shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

"We fell out of the vortex, through the void, into nothingness. We're in some sort of no place. The silent realm. The lost dimension." While the Doctor ranted, Mickey made his way over to the door. He opened it and laughed.

"Otherwise known as London." Mickey stepped out the door, leaving it open for Clara and the Doctor. "London, England, Earth. Hold on." Mickey picked up a discarded newspaper from a bench and flipped it open. Clara read the date over his shoulder.

"First of February, 2006. Not exactly far flung, is it?" Clara asked, glancing at the Doctor. He was surveying the area, hands tucked in his pants pockets.

"So this is London?" He didn't really ask.

"Yep." Mickey was very sure. The Doctor gave his a disbelieving look.

"Your city?" Mickey nodded.

"That's the one." The Doctor shook his head and walked over to Mickey and Clara. Clara got the hint that they weren't really in London and had a good look around herself. It took her a second, but she saw what the Doctor and seen.

"Just as we left it?" The Doctor asked Mickey. Mickey seemed to be getting tired of the Doctor's questioning.

"Bang on." Clara pointed to the sky.

"And that includes the Zeppelins?" She asked. The sky held more than twenty Zeppelins floating around. Mickey gaped at the scene in front of him.

"What the hell?" Mickey let the newspaper fall out of his fingers.

"It's beautiful." Clara commented after a moment. Mickey tried to shake himself out of his shock.

"Okay, so it's London with a big international Zeppelin festival." He was grasping at straws to explain what was going on. The Doctor shook his head.

"This is not your world," he told the two of them. Clara had kind of figured that already.

"But if the date's the same, it's parallel, right?" Mickey sounded excited. "Am I right? Like a parallel Earth where they've got Zeppelins." He grinned at the Doctor. "Am I right? I'm right, aren't I?" The Doctor shrugged noncommittally.

"Must be."

"Parallel world?" Clara was a little confused by the scifi talk. She had never heard of parallel world before. The future Doctor had never said anything about them.

"Oh, come on. You've seen it on films." Mickey told her. "Like an alternative to our world where everything's the same but a little bit different. Like, I don't know, traffic lights are blue, or Tony Blair never got elected." Clara was only half listening to Mickey. The bookstore right next to the TARDIS had caught her eye. Without saying anything, she ran to the window, eyes glued to the book in the window. It had a red cover, black cursive writing stating the book was called _101 Places to Travel: Conquered_. Clara's heart stopped when she saw the name.

"She's still alive." She whispered, fingers on the glass. The Doctor and Mickey stood behind her, confused. "She didn't die."

"Who?" Mickey asked. "Ellie Oswald?" Clara nodded, tears falling from her eyes. She turned to her friends and gave them a watery smile.

"My mum is still alive here." She said at last.

"You're mum isn't alive back home?" The Doctor asked slowly. Clara shook her head, crossing her arms. Her feelings were all mixed up. On the one hand, she was ecstatic that her mum was alive here. On the other hand, though, she couldn't help but think that she wasn't really her mum here. She probably had her own Clara, her own Dad...

"Yea. She died on March 5, 2005." Clara's voice was raspy as she answered the Doctor. Clara turned to look at the book once more.

"Don't look at it, Clara." The Doctor pulled her from the bookstore window. "Don't even think about it. This is not your world. That's not really your mum." Clara nodded, tears still flowing.

"I know, but-"

"No buts! Your mum died. For all we know-"

"She's got her own Clara. Yea, I got it." Clara snapped, pulling her arm from the Doctor's grasp. She hastily wiped her eyes. "I need some air." She muttered, walking off onto a familiar, yet unfamiliar road.

* * *

**A/N: **A second chapter in two days?! GASP! Haha, the only reason this is out so quickly is because I gotta talk with you all.

First and foremost, did you guys see it coming? I think it was kind of obvious that Clara's mom was gonna be alive, but I still had to do it. I promise the rest of these two episodes won't be so predictable!

Second, I have a poll on my profile that I would love for you to vote in. It's for the another Doctor Who story I want to write. Don't worry- I'll still make sure I update this story once a week. I just want something else to write, too. Please vote and let me know which story you would read! The poll will be up for at least a week, maybe two (it depends on how many votes I get) I'll let you know what the results are in the A/N of either the next chapter, or the chapter after that.

And last, I just want to thank you all for being awesome and reading this. I love every review I read and I love to see the read count for this story go up and up. Please continue to review and read! Thanks so much!


	8. Rise of the Cybermen, Part Two

Rise of the Cybermen, Part Two

Clara stormed down the street, no destination in mind. She just needed to get away. What did the Doctor think she was, stupid? She knew not to go find her mum, no matter how much she wanted to.

She found herself at the park. The very same park that her mum used to take her to. She plopped on the bench and put her elbows on her knees, her head buried in her palms. She couldn't help but cry; everything was too much. Her mum was a success- she had traveled to all the places she had wanted to.

"Clara!" Clara's heart froze when she heard that familiar voice call her name. "Clara Oswald!" Her head snapped up and she saw the last thing she would have ever thought she would see again.

Her mother.

Ellie Oswald had her hands on her hips and was glaring down at her. Her glare seemed to soften when she saw the tears still on Clara's cheeks.

"I told you not to run off like that." Ellie stated patiently, moving to sit next to her. Clara wiped her eyes, instinctively scooting away from her. Clara knew this wasn't right. She was not this Ellie's Clara. "Dear, what's wrong?"

Doing some mental math in her head, Clara deduced that she would have been sixteen in 2006. So, why didn't Ellie notice how much older she looked? Seven years is pretty obvious.

Clara shook her head. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm not your Clara." She told her thickly. Ellie raised an eyebrow.

"Right." Ellie replied dryly. "And I'm the president of America." She grabbed Clara's hand. "Let's go home. I'll make you some of my chocolate chip cookies and you can tell me what's wrong." Clara didn't have the heart to pull her hand from her mother's grasp. She nodded and let Ellie pull her off the bench.

Hey, she tried, didn't she?

Lalala

Clara was happily chomping away on her mother's cookies- man, had she missed these!- and making up some story to explain why she was crying.

"It was Marissa, wasn't it?" Ellie was asking, popping another pan of cookies into the oven. "I always told you to stay away from that one. You never listened, though." Clara was quiet a moment as she chewed.

"You were right, Mum. You're always right." Ellie smiled and wagged her finger at Clara.

"And don't you forget it." The front door opened and closed. Clara figured her father was home and had a moment of panic. What if her dad could tell that she wasn't this world's Clara? What would happen then?

"We're in the kitchen, dear!" Ellie called, setting the timer for the cookies.

"Mum?" Both Ellie's and Clara's heads snapped to face the doorway, where sixteen year old, this world Clara was standing. She was the same height as Clara and had full bangs, where Clara only had side bangs now. "What's going on?"

Ellie looked back and forth between the two Claras. A second later, Clara bolted and ran back to the TARDIS.

Lalala

Clara opened the TARDIS door and stepped inside, where Mickey and the Doctor were standing around. The Doctor was cradling a little, green lightbulb.

"There you are. You all right?" He held up the lightbulb for her to see. "No applause. I fixed it. I fixed the TARDIS. Twenty four hours, then we're flying back to reality." He paused, actually noticing the look on her face. "What is it?"

"I ran into my mum." Clara whispered, collapsing into the captain's chair. "I didn't mean to, it just happened. She was looking for this universe's me and found me instead."

"You shouldn't have left her." The Doctor told her.

"She thought I was her daughter," Clara told the two of them weakly. "She took me to her house and made cookies."

"What kind?" Mickey asked.

"Mickey!" The Doctor hissed. Mickey raised his hands in defense.

"I was just asking!"

"Then, her Clara came home." Clara went on. "I left then." The Doctor was quiet.

"She's going to want answers, you know." He told her. She nodded.

"I know. I just don't know what to tell her." Clara looked from the Doctor to Mickey. "What do I tell her? I mean, she deserves an explanation." The Doctor thought about it. Mickey, on the other hand, seemed to be worlds away in his own mind.

"Mickey?" Clara asked.

"Do you think my gran would be alive here?" He asked, looking from the two of them. The Doctor's eyes widened.

"I don't know." He admitted. "But, we can't find out! This place is like a gingerbread house- all tempting and sweet looking. But it's dangerous and we need to leave."

"We've got twenty four hours, though." Mickey pointed out. Clara grabbed Mickey's hand, pulling his attention to her.

"It's not a good idea. Trust me." She said seriously. He pulled his hand from hers and made his way to the door.

"I have to find out." He muttered. "I have to." With that, he left. Clara and the Doctor ran out the door and after him.

"Mickey!" The two of them yelled, but Mickey was running by that point, and had a head start on them. Clara looked around for a way to catch up- a bike or something she could borrow. In the TV shows, there was always a bike conveniently there for the main characters to use. No luck.

However, she spotted something else. "What're they all doing?" Clara asked the Doctor. Everyone on the street and stopped suddenly wherever they were.

"They've stopped." The Doctor answered unhelpfully, looking confused. Everyone had some sort of ear pod in their ears, and they all began flashing blue. "It's the earpieces. Like Bluetooth attachments, but everyone's connected together." Curious, Clara pulled out her cell phone from her purse. Her phone had automatically connected to "Cybus Industries"- the phone company, Clara assumed.

"It's on my phone. It's automatic, look." A little symbol appeared on the touch screen. "It's downloading. Is this what they're all getting?" She slid her finger over the screen, flipping through all the downloads her phone was receiving.

"News, international news, sports, weather." She listed, skimming everything as she went.

"They get it direct. Downloaded right into their heads." The Doctor guessed, putting his hands in his pants pockets.

"TV schedules, lottery numbers." Clara continued as more things popped up onto the screen.

"Everyone shares the same information." The Doctor muttered. "A daily download published by Cybus Industries."

A joke popped up on the screen under the title _Today's Funnies_. Simultaneously, everyone around them laughed. After that, everyone resumed their business. The Doctor looked almost disgusted.

"You lot, you're obsessed. You'd do anything for the latest upgrade." Clara smacked him lightly on the chest.

"Oi, not my lot. Different world, remember?" The Doctor gave her a look, which she returned with a glare.

"It's not so far off your world. This place is only parallel." He got distracted and walked up to a poster on a building behind Clara. "Oh, look at that. Cybus Industries, owners of just about every company in Britain, including Vitex." He stopped for a second, surprised.

"What?" Clara asked, looking at the poster to see what had shocked him.

"You'll never guess who works for them." The Doctor said wryly. "Pete Tyler, Rose's dad."

* * *

**A/N: **Here's another chapter, guys! I have to say, I was a bit disappointed with the response to the last chapter- only two reviews! I try to not be so uptight about reviews, but I would really like it if I could at least get three reviews a chapter. That's not so much to ask for, is it? A simple "update soon" or "good chapter" is more than enough for me. Just let me know what you thought about the chapter.

Anyway, the poll is still up and I would really appreciate it if you could go vote! I'm going to take it down sometime this week, so please go vote and help me make up my mind!

Thanks you all again for reading this story and sticking with it.


	9. Rise of the Cybermen, Part Three

Rise of the Cybermen, Part Three

Clara and the Doctor- having gotten off track from their search for Mickey- found themselves at Pete Tyler and Jackie Tyler's mansion. A party was going on, people milling about all over the property.

"They've got visitors," the Doctor announced after scoping out the place.

"Yea, I noticed." Clara replied. "I overheard someone talking about Jackie's birthday." The Doctor nodded, everything making sense to him.

"Rose's mum. Must be her birthday." He glanced at the party. "I should've pegged Jackie as the type for a grand party."

"Hell, anyone would have a grand party if they had the money," Clara pointed out. The Doctor was quiet a moment, a plan forming in his head.

"Well, given Pete Tyler's guest list, I wouldn't mind a look." The Doctor pointed out a few recognizable people entering the party- some diplomats that she recognized, as well as celebrities. "And there is one guaranteed way of getting inside." Clara raised an eyebrow. She already knew what he was going to say, but didn't want to give that away.

"And what would that be?" He grinned at her, the tip of his tongue sticking out between his teeth.

"Psychic paper." He flipped out his psychic paper, making it say a few random things to demonstrate how it works. "So, who do you want to be?"

lalala

Clara wasn't too upset about being a servant for the Tyler party, but she did think that they could have been someone a little better.

"We could have been anyone." She muttered, holding out her tray of champagne to a guest with a smile on her face. The man sneered at her, taking a glass rudely. The Doctor served someone a lady finger, bumping Clara's hip with his own.

"Got us in, didn't it?" He asked, looking at her with a bit of a smile on his face. She couldn't help but smile back, butterflies in her tummy.

"I suppose it makes sense," Clara admitted. "'If you want to know what's going on, work in the kitchens.' That's what they always say in spy movies, isn't it? No one pays attention to the help." The Doctor tapped her on the nose the same way the future Doctor did.

"Exactly. According to Lucy, that man over there-" Clara felt something warm and unpleasant bubble in her tummy, effectively killing her butterflies.

"Who's Lucy?" Clara asked lightly, trying to hide how unhappy she was. In the back of her mind, she was aware that the unpleasant feeling she felt was jealousy, but she didn't want to admit that.

"She's carrying the salmon pinwheels." The Doctor pointed to a pretty blonde woman graciously serving salmon to guests. Clara's jealousy flared.

"Oh, that's Lucy, is it?" Clara muttered, holding out her tray for another person to take a glass.

"Yeah." The Doctor answered obliviously. "Lucy says, that is the President of Great Britain." He pointed to a man who had many people standing around him. Clara snorted.

"What, there's a President, not a Prime Minister?"

"Seems so." The Doctor mused. Clara could almost see the cogs of his brain turning.

"Or maybe Lucy's just a bit thick," Clara mumbled under her breath spitefully. Luckily, the Doctor didn't hear her. Good, she was kind of shocked by how mean she was acting. It wasn't like she had a claim on the Doctor or anything. _Not that I don't want to_, she couldn't help but think.

A man stood at the top of the staircase, pulling the attention of everyone. He was fair haired- Clara couldn't tell if he was a blond or a redhead- and balding.

"Excuse me! Thank you very much." He beamed at the crowd. "Thank you if I could just have your attention, please?" The crowd quieted.

"Pete! Go on, Pete!" A random man yelled. Pete laughed.

"Thank you very much!" He said. Different people called up to him, but he quieted them quickly. "Um, I'd just like to say thank you to you all, for coming on this, this very special occasion. My wife's thirty ninth."

"Don't believe that one." The same man interrupted him. Pete grinned, giving his signature thumbs up.

"Trust me on this." The crowd chuckled. "And so, without any further ado, here she is, the birthday girl. My lovely wife, Jackie Tyler." A blonde woman in a black dress sauntered into view, hair done up nice. Clara thought it was a bit obvious that she wasn't really thirty nine. Everyone clapped for her and Clara awkwardly clapped her thigh. Jackie smiled serenely at the audience.

"Now, I'm not giving a speech. That's what my parties are famous for. No work, no politics, just a few good mates and plenty of black market whisky." Jackie gave a fake giggle, holding a hand out in the direction of the "president". "Pardon me, Mister President. So, yeah, get on with it. Enjoy, enjoy." The party restarted, everyone chatting with each other as Pete and Jackie made to join the party.

"Rose! There's my little girl!" Jackie called suddenly, turning towards the way she came. The Doctor and Clara watched interestedly, waiting to see Rose come out. "Come to mummy, come to mummy!" A little Yorkie came prancing towards Jackie, and she scooped the dog into her arms.

Clara and the Doctor broke into a fit of giggles.

"Oh, I wish Rose were here to see this!" Clara gasped, struggling to keep her tray level as she laughed.

"Clara?" Yet again, Clara heard that familiar voice call her name. Clara stopped laughing immediately. She stood straighter.

"Shit," she whispered. The Doctor looked worried.

"What?" He asked. Clara turned around to face her mother yet again.

"You're not my Clara." Ellie stated. "Who are you? Why do you look like my daughter? Why did you pretend to _be _my daughter?"

"I- well, um-" Clara stammered, shoving her tray into another servant's hands. She looked to the Doctor for help.

"Ellie, is it?" The Doctor asked. Ellie nodded, lips pursed. "I'm the Doctor. Please, may we step outside? I can explain everything." Ellie scrutinized him for a moment before relenting.

"Alright." Ellie said, arms crossed. "But, she's coming, too." The Doctor nodded, giving someone his tray. He took Clara's hand and led the two of them outside. Waiting for them was this world's Clara.

"Mum?" Other Clara asked. "Have you figured out what's going on?" Ellie walked up to her daughter.

"Not yet. They promised to explain." Ellie assured her. She looked to Clara and the Doctor. "Well?"

"Well, you see-" Clara could tell the Doctor was about to lie and nudged him in the ribs.

"The truth, Doctor." She insisted. "I'm not lying to her." The Doctor stared at her, and Clara tried to convey how important this was to her through her eyes. The Doctor seemed to understand and nodded.

He began to explain the best he could to Ellie and Other Clara, who both looked very disbelieving.

"You expect me to believe that you're from a parallel universe?" Ellie demanded, hands on her hips. "Clara Eleanor Oswald-" Clara started crying at that point. She buried her face in her hands, sobbing.

"Clara?" The Doctor sounded panicked, grabbing her around the shoulders. "Clara, what's wrong?"

"Clara?" Ellie asked hesitantly, looking from her real daughter, to this other Clara, to the Doctor. "Sweetie, what's wrong?" Clara hiccuped, trying to stifle her tears. Ellie gently pulled Clara from the Doctor's arms and hugged her. Clara clung to her.

"It's just-" Clara hiccuped again. "The last time my mum said my name was-" She started crying harder than ever, holding Ellie tighter.

"Her version of Ellie died eight years ago," the Doctor explained quietly to Ellie and Other Clara. Other Clara's hands flew to her mouth, the thought of losing her mother devastating her. Ellie, finally believing what they were telling her- how could she not? This girl was bawling because she had said her full name- rubbed Clara's back like she did to her Clara whenever she was upset.

Suddenly, lights seemed to turn on all around them, illuminating figures in the distance. Clara looked up from Ellie's shoulder, cheeks stained with tears, looking to see what was going on.

"Doctor-?" She asked, standing up. She helped Ellie to her feet. The figures began marching closer, dainty as elephants. They stomped loudly, sounding very mechanic.

"Oh no," the Doctor breathed, horrified by the figures. They had the party surrounded and were closing in. "It's happening again." His hands went into his hair, pulling at it.

"What do you mean?" Clara asked, wiping her eyes. "What are they?

The Doctor grabbed her hand and squeezed tightly. "Cybermen." He pulled her, leading her back inside. Ellie and Other Clara followed. By then, Clara could see them clearer.

"What are they?" She asked again. "Robots?" The Doctor looked grave, looking around for a way out.

"Worse than that," he muttered. "They were people, once." Ellie gasped.

"People?!" The Doctor nodded.

"They were until they had their humanity taken away." The Doctor continued, making his way to the drawing room, where the rest of the party had congregated in fear. "That's a living brain jammed inside a cybernetic body, with a heart of steel. All emotions removed." Clara looked up at him.

"Why no emotions?" She asked, fearing the answer. He looked pained as his brown eyes met her gaze.

"Because it hurts."

The president broke their moment, demanding to know who the people had been. It took Clara a moment to understand that he was talking to someone on the phone.

"They were homeless," Clara heard from the phone. "And wretched and useless. Until I saved them." One of the Cybermen that had herded the people into the drawing room stepped forward.

"We have been upgraded." Its mouth glowed blue as it spoke in a chilling voice.

"Upgraded?" Other Clara asked, looking to her mother for answers. Ellie shrugged and pulled her daughter into a hug.

"Into what?" The Doctor asked loudly, causing the Cyberman to notice him. The Cyberman turned its whole body to face him.

"The next level of mankind. We are Human Point Two. Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us." The President stepped in front of the Cyberman, compassion evident on his face.

"I'm sorry." He said sincerely. "I'm so sorry for what's been done to you, but listen to me. This experiment ends tonight." The Cyberman looked unfazed. Clara wasn't sure if it could look fazed, though.

"Upgrading is compulsory." It stated.

"And if I refuse?" The president asked, crossing his arms. Clara felt panic in her gut.

"Don't," she said, her voice unable to be louder than a whisper. At the same time, the Doctor said, "Don't!" The president looked at the Doctor, trying to figure out what he meant, then turned back to the Cyberman.

"What if I refuse?"

"I'm telling you, don't." The Doctor repeated urgently, stepping forward. He let go of Clara's hand so she wouldn't have to get closer to the robotic man. Clara stepped forward anyway and took his hand again. She wasn't letting him face anything alone.

"What happens if I refuse?" The president asked again, testing his limits.

The Cyberman's mouth flashed blue again. "Then you are not compatible. And you will be deleted."

Chaos erupted. The Doctor held Clara's hand tighter and grabbed Ellie's, who grabbed Other Clara's hand. They ran through the house, successfully evading all of the Cybermen. On a hill by the Tyler's mansion, Clara spotted Mickey with a pair of people. They ran up to them, hearing a Cyberman stomping behind them. Mickey jumped in front of them.

"Stay behind me!" He shouted, hefting up a huge gun and firing it at the Cyberman. The bullets merely bounced off the silver metal and the Cyberman continued marching.

"Look at you!" Clara breathed, out of breath from running. She pulled him into a hug. "I thought we'd never see you again!"

"Um, no offense, darling, but who the hell are you?" Clara stepped back and looked up at Mickey.

"Mickey, it's me." She told him. "Clara."

"Clara, that's not me! That's the other one." Clara looked and saw another Mickey standing in the group. "Just like that's the other you." He pointed to Other Clara, who waved shyly at him. Clara ran over to the real Mickey and hugged him.

"Oh great. If it weren't bad enough, we've got two Mickeys as well as two Claras!" The Doctor complained. Other Mickey looked offended.

"It's Ricky," he corrected, shooting the Cyberman again. The Doctor took the gun and threw it to the ground.

"Bullets don't work on them." He informed everyone. He turned to the Cyberman, who was scarily close by then. He raised his arms up in defeat. "We surrender!" He called. The Cyberman stopped. Clara and the others followed his example and raised their arms.

"You are incompatible." It stated. "You will be deleted."

"But we surrender!" Clara exclaimed. The Cyberman kept chanting, approaching them.

"Delete! Delete! Delete!"

* * *

**A/N: **WOO! Longest chapter to date! Over 2,00 words, wow. So, do you guys like the changes I've made in this episode? I feel like I've strayed a lot from the original episode. What do you guys think?

By the way, the poll has ended. The first chapter of my other Doctor Who fanfic is up. It's called Come Along Pond, Allons-y! You should check it out. Second chapter will be up sometime this week. Don't worry though, I won't let this story lag. I'll be updating both stories once a week, but this one will continue to be my main focus. Let me know what you think of that story, as well!

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!


	10. The Age of Steel, Part One

The Age of Steel, Part One

In a desperate act for survival, the Doctor pointed the little, green, glowing power cell at the oncoming Cyberman, effectively disintegrating it. The five others stood there, gaping at him

"What the hell was that?" Ricky demanded, looking from the remains of the Cyberman to the Doctor.

"Run!" The Doctor had spotted a van on the road and made a break for it. He had grabbed Clara's hand and took her with him. She stumbled a little, but kept up with him easily enough. The other's followed. The woman in the van honked.

"Everybody, in!" She barked, opening the door for them. Ellie halted.

"I've got to go back. My friends are in there!" She turned to go back.

"Mum!" Clara and Other Clara cried in unison. The Doctor grabbed her elbow.

"Anyone inside that house is dead. If you want to help, then don't let them die for nothing. You've got to come with us right now." Ellie looked torn, but climbed into the van. She slid the door shut behind her.

"Come on! Get a move on!" The woman driving the car yelled. "Finished chatting? Never seen a slower getaway in my life!" She stepped on the gas pedal, and they sped off.

"I'm Mrs. Moore, by the way." She introduced herself. Everyone introduced themselves, as well.

"What was that thing?" Ricky asked again after they had been on the road a bit. The Doctor displayed the power cell.

"Little bit of technology from my home." He replied, looking lovingly at the little bulb. Mickey pointed at it.

"It's stopped glowing. Has it run out?" He asked. Clara was afraid it had- she didn't want to get stuck here. She had her dad back home, and Artie and Angie to return to. One day.

"It's on a revitalizing loop. It'll charge back up in about four hours." The Doctor answered, tucking the cell back into his inside pocket. He patted it gently.

"Right," Ricky said dryly. "So, we don't have a weapon anymore." The other guy in the van, Jake, shook his head.

"Yeah, we've got weapons. Too bad they're useless." He sounded spiteful, and for good reason. How were they going to protect themselves or stop the Cybermen without a weapon?

"I'm sure we can figure something out." Mickey stated, turning to Ricky. "Ricky can get something, can't you? You're London's Most Wanted." Ricky looked sheepish at Mickey's statement.

"Yeah, that's not exactly-"

"Not exactly what?" Mickey interrupted warily.

Ricky hesitated a moment, licking his lips. "I'm London's Most Wanted for parking tickets," he admitted. Everyone groaned.

"Great," Clara muttered. The Doctor squeezed her hand, silently telling her that they would figure something out.

"They were deliberate." Ricky went on hastily, as if trying to prove himself. "I was fighting the system. Park anywhere, that's me." He tried to look tough, but failed. The Doctor tilted his head.

"Good policy. I do much the same." He glanced at the others. "And I'd take those ear pods off, if I were you. You never know. Lumic could be listening." He took everyone's ear pods and zapped them with his sonic screwdriver, rendering them useless.

"But he's overreached himself," The Doctor went on. "He's still just a businessman. He's assassinated the President. All we need to do is get to the city and inform the authorities. Because I promise you, this ends tonight." He sounded severe and serious.

Mrs. Moore stomped on the brakes, causing everyone to fall over.

"What the hell?" Jake said, leaning over the front seat.

"What's going on?" Clara copied Jake, watching the citizens of London walk slowly throughout the city. They were like zombies. People walked in the street, shuffling along slowly.

"It's the ear-pods. Lumic's taken control." The Doctor stated, looking grimly at the people. Everyone climbed out of the car. Clara ran up to a random man.

"Can't we just- I don't know- take them off?" She asked, reaching for the ear pod.

"Don't!" The Doctor grabbed her wrist. "Could cause a brainstorm. Human race- for such an intelligent lot, you aren't half susceptible. Give anyone a chance to take control and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it. Easy life." Clara it her lip, unhappy as she watched people shuffle by, ear pods glowing.

"Hey, come and see," Jake said, waving everyone around a corner. They all peeked and saw more people and a group of Cybermen marching along.

"Where are they all going?" Other Clara whispered, clutching her mother's arm.

"I don't know. Lumic must have a base of operations." The Doctor deduced.

"Battersea." Ellie stated at once. "That's where he was building his prototypes." They all looked at her.

"How do you know that?" Mrs. Moore asked slowly. Ellie looked guilty.

"I was going undercover, working on an article for the newspaper about it." Elli explained hurriedly, disliking they untrusting looks everyone was giving her.

"And you never told anyone what he was doing?" Other Clara sounded disgusted with her mum. Ellie looked even guiltier.

"I-" Clara cut her off.

"We can deal with that later," she said firmly. "Right now, we need to know: what's he doing with it?" She looked at Ellie expectantly. Ellie took a deep, steadying breath.

"He's dying. This all started out as a way of prolonging life, of keeping the brain alive at any cost."

"We need to get out of the city." Ricky spoke up suddenly. "Like, now. We need to split up. Mrs Moore, you look after that bloke." He pointed at the Doctor. "Jake, distract them. Go right, I'll go left. We'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move." Mrs. Moore and Jake followed his orders and once.

"I'm going with him." He told Clara and the Doctor. He hugged Clara quickly and ran off after Ricky.

"Come on," Mrs. Moore started leading them down a side street. "Let's get moving."

lalala

"I ran past the river. You should have seen it. The whole city's on the march. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames." Jake had caught up with them. He was winded and panting. Mickey ran up to the, alone. Jake looked worried.

"Which one are you?" He demanded as soon as Mickey stopped running.

"I'm sorry. The Cybermen. He couldn't-" Jake grabbed Mickey's shoulders, shaking him.

"Are you Ricky?" He asked desperately. "Are you Ricky?" Clara stepped forward, placing her hand on Mickey's arm.

"Mickey, that's you, isn't it?" She asked softly. Mickey nodded and Clara hugged him tightly.

"He tried." Mickey tried to explain everything to Jake, who looked like someone had punched him in the stomach. "He was running. There was too many of them."

"Shut it." Jake shook his head, closing his eyes tight.

"There was nothing I could do." Mickey said weakly, hoping Jake would understand.

"I said just shut it!" Jake yelled fiercely. "Don't even talk about him. You're nothing, you are. Nothing!" Jake got up in Mickey's face and the Doctor stepped in between them.

"We can mourn him when London is safe. But now, we move on." He led them away. Clara held the Doctor's hand and Mickey's, too. She felt like Mickey needed someone's hand to hold, and since Rose wasn't there, it needed to be her.

This whole day had turned into a nightmare.

* * *

**A/N: **Here's another chapter! Wow, that's already two chapters this week, isn't it? I'm on a roll! Don't expect this pace to keep up- I just have had a lot of free time lately. That won't keep happening, though. So, enjoy it while it lasts!

Thank you for the reviews, guys! Please keep them coming- they really help me continue to update this story. If you haven't noticed, the more reviews I get on a chapter leads to a quicker update. Please review!

Is this (and the last) chapter making sense? I kind of feel like it doesn't make much sense, since I'm only writing the parts of the episode that Clara is in. Is it confusing to you, or can you follow easily enough?

Thanks so much for reading. Until next time!


	11. The Age of Steel, Part Two

The Age of Steel, Part Two

The group of them stood across the street from Lumic's headquarters. Clara was hugging herself tightly, shaking from both the cold and her fear. The Doctor hugged her from behind, rubbing her arms soothingly. Other Clara clung to her mother, who was petting her hair gently. Clara couldn't help but wonder if she was be like that if her mother were still alive. Would she cling to her mother all the time and not be as independent as she was, or would she still have grown up and grown apart from her mum?

"The whole of London's been sealed off, and the entire population's been taken inside that place. To be converted." He continued to rub her arms with one hand while he pointed to the building with the other. Clara looked at the building; she could practically feel the evil radiating off of it.

"We've got to get in there and shut it down." She stated obviously. The Doctor held her tighter.

"How do we do that?" Other Clara asked in a small voice, looking up at the Doctor. He shrugged.

"Oh, I'll think of something." Mickey looked at him disbelievingly.

"You're just making this up as you go along," he accused. The Doctor rested his chin on Clara's head.

"Yep. But I do it brilliantly."

After a while, Mrs. Moore joined them once more. She pulled Cybus Industries on her laptop. All of them crowded around her, looking at the screen.

"That's a schematic of the old factory. Look." Mrs. Moore pointed at the screen, barely touching it. "Cooling tunnels underneath the plant. Big enough to walk through."

"We go under there and up into the control centre?" The Doctor asked, looking from the screen to Mrs. Moore. She nodded. Ellie cleared her throat.

"There's another way in. Through the front door." Ellie stated. Everyone stared at her incredulously. "If they've taken my husband for upgrading, that's how he'll get in." Jake scoffed.

"We can't just go strolling up." He sneered. Mrs. Moore tilted her head.

"Or we could, with these. " She held out a handful of ear pods. "Fake ear pods. Dead. No signal. But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd." Ellie put on a brave face.

"Then that's my job."

"No!" Clara and Other Clara cried simultaneously. Clara turned to face the Doctor.

"No, she can't. She'll be turned into one of them!" The Doctor looked conflicted. After a moment, he turned to Ellie.

"You'd have to show no emotion. None at all. Any sign of emotion would give you away." Ellie nodded in understanding. Clara scowled.

"How many of those you got?" She asked, ignoring the look the Doctor shot her.

"Just three sets." Clara nodded.

"Okay. If that's the best way of finding him, then I'm coming with you."

"Me, too," Other Clara spoke up bravely. "I'm gonna help you find Dad." Ellie stared long and hard at the two, nearly identical faces that were Clara. She wasn't happy about them accompanying her.

"Clara-" Clara glared at the Doctor.

"If she's going, I'm going." She told him firmly.

"No stopping you, is there?" He asked finally, sighing.

"No." The Doctor was quiet, a plan forming in his head.

"Tell you what. We can take the ear pods at the same time. Give people their minds back so they don't walk into that place like sheep." The Doctor turned to Jake, in full planning mode. "Jakey-boy? Lumic's transmitting the control signal. It must be from over there." Using his sonic screwdriver as a pointer, he pointed in the direction of the power station. A zeppelin was parked on top, a circle of blinking red lights on its bow and stern.

"There it is." The Doctor continued. "On the zeppelin, you see? Great big transmitter. Good thing Lumic likes showing off. Reckon you could take it out?" Jake nodded seriously.

"Consider it done."

"Mrs. Moore, would you care to accompany me into the cooling tunnels?" The Doctor went on, looking at the older woman. She smirked.

"How could I refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?" She asked sardonically.

"We attack on three sides. Above, between, below. We get to the control centre, we stop the conversion machines." The Doctor directed. Mickey faked a cough.

"What about me?" He asked the Doctor. The Doctor paused.

"Mickey. You can- er-"

"What, stay out of trouble?" Mickey demanded. "Be the tin dog? No, those days are over. I'm going with Jake." Jake glowered at Mickey.

"I don't need you, idiot." He spat. Mickey whipped around, rounding on him now.

"I'm not an idiot! You got that? I'm offering to help." Jake shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Whatever," he muttered. The Doctor patted Mickey on the back.

"Mickey. Good luck." Mickey nodded.

"Yeah, you too. Clara, I'll see you later." Clara gave a half smile.

"Yeah, you'd better," she said seriously. The Doctor pulled Clara into a hug.

"If we survive this, I'll see you back at the TARDIS." He told Clara and Mickey. Mickey saluted him.

"That's a promise." He walked off, following Jake.

"Good luck," the Doctor muttered into Clara's ear. She nodded, hugging him tighter.

"You, too."

Lalala

Having already slipped their ear pods in, Ellie, Other Clara, and Clara joined the group of people being escorted into the building. All the Cybermen were up ahead, not able to see them yet.

"Chamber six now open for human upgrading." A Cyberman announced. "Chamber seven now open for human upgrading. Chamber eight now open for human upgrading."

"Don't show any emotion," Ellie reminded the two Claras. "No signs, nothing. Okay?" She was struggling to clear her face of emotion, especially with them in danger along with her.

"Don't worry. We can do it." Other Clara tried to sound encouraging, but it just sounded hollow.

"Chamber seven now open for human upgrading," the Cyberman repeated.

"We could die in here," Ellie told them. "They haven't seen us yet; you two can back out, still."

"We're not leaving you," Clara said fiercely. Other Clara nodded.

"Or Dad," she added. Ellie nodded, taking a deep breath.

"Okay." She whispered. They were almost to the Cybermen. "Show time." Her face went blank, as did Clara's and Other Clara's faces. The Cyberman kept listing all the chambers that were open for conversion.

"This half, follow me," a Cyberman stated coldly, gesturing to the half of the group that Ellie and Other Clara were on. "Other half, follow him." The Cyberman stiffly pointed to another Cyberman. Panic welled up in Clara's stomach. She was being separated! What was going to happen now? She fought to keep her face neutral.

She followed her group, fighting the urge to look back at Ellie and Other Clara.

Lalala

"Units upgraded now six thousand five hundred. Repeat. Six thousand five hundred and rising." A Cyberman was listing off statistics as the group of humans marched along. The procession was stopped right in front of Clara.

"You will wait." The Cyberman that cut her off told her briefly before walking away, its metal feet clanging loudly on the tiled floor. The same Cyberman kept making announcements.

"Chamber six now open for human upgrading. All reject stock will be incinerated." Clara watched in internal horror as a woman walked into chamber. Clara's stomach clenched when that same woman walked out of the chamber as a full Cyberman. After a moment, a Cyberman stomped up to Clara, standing in front of her.

"You are Clara Oswald," it stated. Confirm you are Clara Oswald."

"Confirmed." Clara bit out, barely keeping her composure.

"I recognize you," it told her. "My name is Eleanor Oswald." Clara's eyes widened as they filled with tears.

"No!" She cried, completely forgetting she was supposed to be pretending she was brainwashed. Tear fell down her cheeks. Her mother was dead. Again.

"They are unprogrammed," Cyberman Ellie said. "Restrain." Clara shook her head furiously, fighting the Cyberman that grabbed her arms.

"You're lying!" Clara yelled, squeezing her eyes shut. "You're not her. You're not my mum! She's not dead- not again." Clara tried to fall to her knees, but couldn't because of the Cyberman holding her.

"No, I am Cyber-form. Once I was Eleanor Oswald." Clara shook her head.

"No, you're not!"

"Her brain is inside this body," it contradicted. It took a step back from Clara. "Take her to Cyber Control." The Cyberman holding Clara's arms began dragging her away. Clara strained to look back, searching for the Cyberman that had been Ellie. She couldn't tell which one was her. Faintly, she wondered if Other Clara had been converted as well, or if she had gotten away somehow.

Eventually, she was dumped in the Control Room. She sat in a computer chair, not caring about her surroundings. All she could think about was how she had lost her mother again.

The door opened noisily, but Clara didn't look to see who had entered. Then, she heard a familiar voice.

"I've been captured, but don't worry, Clara's still out there. She can rescue me. Oh well, never mind. " The Doctor said sarcastically, walking up to her. He stopped when he saw her tears. "You okay?"

"Not really." Clara admitted, sniffling. "They turned her. Ellie." She began crying even harder. The Doctor pulled her into his arms. "She's dead- all over again!" She sobbed.

"Then where is he, the famous Mister Lumic?" The Doctor yelled angrily, holding Clara tighter. "Don't we get the chance to meet our Lord and Master?" The Cyberman that had brought the Doctor in stepped forward.

"He has been upgraded." It told them.

"So he's just like you?" The Doctor stood up, facing the Cyberman. She stood with him, wrapping her arms around one of his.

"He is superior." The Cyberman answered. "The Lumic Unit has been designated Cyber Controller." A different door opened and a Cyberman in a wheelchair- which was an upgraded wheelchair- entered the room. It looked different from the other Cybermen.

"This is 'The Age of Steel' and I am its Creator." Lumic stated unemotionally.

* * *

**A/N: **What did you guys think? Let me know in a review! I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. The Age of Steel will be done next chapter, then there will be some original stuff. Did you like the Ten/Clara stuff I slipped into this chapter? There's more to come, I promise!

While you're waiting for the next chapter, you should go check out my other Doctor Who fic, "Come Along Pond, Allons-y!" ;) I'm sure you'll love it!

Don't forget, review review review!


	12. The Age of Steel, Part Three

The Age of Steel, Part Three

Scream erupted from the conversion rooms. Feet stomped around as people panicked.

"What's going on?" Clara asked, wiping her tears from her cheeks. She would have time to mourn Ellie and Other Clara later. She had to focus on what was going on. The Doctor grinned.

"That's my friends at work. Good boys! Mister Lumic, I think that's a vote for free will." The Doctor told Lumic, who didn't look pleased. Clara waited for Lumic to panic as well, but he didn't.

"I have factories waiting on seven continents," he informed them coolly. "If the ear pods have failed, then the Cybermen will take humanity by force. London has fallen. So shall the world."

Clara shivered; he seemed so heartless! She clutched the Doctor's arm tighter.

"I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace, unity, and uniformity." Lumic continued. The Doctor's stare bore into Lumic's head.

"And imagination?" He demanded. "What about that? The one thing that lead you here, imagination, you're killing it dead!"

"What is your name?" Lumic asked the both of them.

"Clara Oswald." Clara spoke with as much bravery as she could muster. Still, her voice shook.

"I'm the Doctor." The Doctor patted her hand comfortingly, eyes never leaving Lumic. Lumic almost scoffed.

"A redundant title. Doctors need not exist; Cybermen never sicken."

"Yeah, but that's it. That's exactly the point! Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man. I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room." Clara snorted quietly at his ego. Luckily, no one noticed. "But everything you've invented, you did to fight your sickness. And that's brilliant." He actually sounded impressed. "That is so human. But once you get rid of sickness and mortality, then what's there to strive for, eh?" Clara saw where he was going.

"The Cybermen won't advance," she spoke up, looking up at the Doctor's face. "They'll just stop. Stay like this forever." The Doctor nodded, looking proudly down at her. She gave him a small smile.

"A metal Earth with metal men and metal thoughts, lacking the one thing that makes this planet so alive. People. Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people." The Doctor went on.

"You are proud of your emotions." Lumic stated. The Doctor smiled to himself.

"Oh, yes."

"Then tell me, Doctor. Have you known grief, and rage, and pain?"

"Yes. Yes I have." The Doctor's smile falter as his mind drifted to the times he had felt pain. Clara squeezed his arm gently, trying to comfort him.

"And they hurt?" Lumic pressed, looking happy that he upset the Doctor. In all honesty, Clara wanted to smack him. It was his fault that Ellie and Other Clara were dead, and now he was upsetting her Doctor.

"Oh, yes." The Doctor muttered.

"I could set you free," Lumic offered. "Would you not want that? A life without pain?" With the pain Clara was feeling at that moment, she was slightly tempted. A life without pain sounded ideal right then.

"You might as well kill me," the Doctor stated coldly.

"Then I take that option." Lumic said. The Doctor shook his head.

"It's not yours to take. You're a Cyber Controller. You don't control me or anything with blood in its heart."

"You have no means of stopping me. I have an army. A species of my own." The Doctor walked away from Clara, pacing throughout the room.

"You just don't get it, do you?" He ranted. "An army's nothing. Because those ordinary people, they're the key. The most ordinary person could change the world." The Doctor was eyeing a camera with a little flashing red light. "Some ordinary man or woman, some idiot. All it takes is for him to find, say-" The Doctor stopped looking at the camera and continued his pacing.

"The right numbers. Say the right codes. Say, for example, the code behind the emotional inhibitor. The code right in front of him." The Doctor emphasized the words "right in front of him" ever so slightly. Just enough that Clara- who knew the Doctor pretty well- could tell, but Lumic couldn't. "Because even an idiot knows how to use computers these days.

"Knows how to get past firewalls and passwords. Knows how to find something encrypted in the Lumic Family Database, under er. What was it? Binary what?

"Binary nine." Clara recalled Ellie mentioning something about binary nine. She hoped that was right.

"An idiot could find that code." The Doctor repeated. "Cancellation code. And he'd keep on typing. Keep on fighting. Anything to save his friends." The Doctor spoke with so much intensity that Clara was a little surprised.

"Your words are irrelevant." Lumic hissed.

"Yeah, talk too much, that's my problem." The Doctor turned to Clara." Lucky I got you that cheap tariff, Clara, for all our long chats." The Doctor paused a moment.

"On your phone." The Doctor said. Clara was lost. She had no idea what the Doctor was talking about. She pulled her phone out of her purse, fingers brushing the broken pocket watch she still carried in there.

"You will be deleted!" Lumic yelled.

"Yes!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Delete, control, hash. All those lovely buttons. Then, of course, my particular favourite, send. And let's not forget how you seduced all those ordinary people in the first place."At that moment, Clara's phone beeped. She glanced down at it discretely, seeing a code on her screen.

"By making every bit of technology compatible with everything else," the Doctor began. Clara tossed her phone to him.

"It's for you!" She announced. The Doctor caught it nimbly. He jammed it into a docking station.

"Like this." The Cybermen began crying out in pain. Every computer screen that Clara could see was downloading the code. The Cybermen's screams increased. All of them were clutching their heads. The Doctor bent down to face one of them. "I'm sorry," he said, using his sonic screwdriver to turn the Cyberman off. Clara watched in horror as another Cyberman's head exploded.

"What have you done?!" Lumic cried.

"I gave them back their souls," the Doctor growled. "They can see what you've done, Lumic, and it's killing them!" The Doctor grabbed Clara's hand dragged her out of the room.

"Delete! Delete! Delete!" Lumic shouted after them. No one paid him any heed.

Everything around them was exploding. They ran as fast as they could. The Doctor used his arms to try to protect Clara from the flying debris.

"There's no way out!" The Doctor yelled, unable to find an exit. Clara somehow heard her phone go off amongst the noise and answered it.

"Mickey?" She called, yelling to be heard over the chaos. Clara tugged on the Doctor's arm, who was still frantically looking for a way out. "It's Mickey. He says head for the roof." The Doctor nodded and they made their way to the roof. The clambered over metal staircases, hand never parting. (

They made it to the roof to see a Zeppelin above them. Clara could see Jake and Mickey in the captain's chairs. "Mickey, where'd you learn to fly that thing?" She asked, talking into her phone.

"Playstation," Mickey answered simply. "Just hold on, Clara. We're coming to get you." He hung up the phone.

A rope ladder was lowered haphazardly. Mickey poked his head out from the trapdoor.

"Hold on tight, we're going up! Welcome to Mickey Smith's Airline. Please enjoy your flight." He joked. The Doctor grabbed onto the rope and began to climb.

Clara's hair whipped around her head. "You've got to be kidding." She muttered, grabbing a bit of the ladder and began pulling herself up.

"We did it! We did it!" Clara exclaimed once she made it to the top. The Doctor and she hugged. "Wait-" Clara noticed something pulling the ladder down.

"Lumic!" The Doctor pulled his screwdriver out of his pocket and tossed it to Jake.

"Jake! Take this! Use it! Hold the button down! Press it against the rope." Jake hesitated. "Just do it!" Jake pressed the button and held it to the rope. Slowly, the rope began to give way. Finally, it broke and Lumic fell. (The rope finally gives way and Lumic falls.) LUMIC: Argh! (He is engulfed in the exploding Power Station.)

Lalala

"Clara, Mickey? I've only got five minutes of power. We've got to go." The Doctor had his head poked out of the TARDIS doors. "Now then, Jake, we've got to run. But one more thing. Mrs Moore. Her real name was Angela Price. She's got a husband out there, and children. Find them. Tell them how she died saving the world." Jake nodded, swallowing.

"Yeah, course I will." The Doctor smiled.

"Off we go, then." Clara made her way to the TARDIS. Mickey didn't.

"Er, thing is, I'm staying." He told them awkwardly. The Doctor stepped fully out of the TARDIS.

"You're doing what?" The Doctor asked, eyebrows knitting together.

"You can't!" Clara said. "If you don't want to travel anymore, the Doctor could take you home. You can't just stay in a parallel world!" Mickey shrugged.

"It sort of balances out, because this world lost its Ricky, but there's me. And there's work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there. And my gran's here. She's still alive. She needs me."

"I'll miss you." Clara said, voice thick with the tears she was holding back.

"We can't come back for you if you change your mind," the Doctor told him seriously. "I told you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible. We only got here by accident. We fell through a crack in time. When we leave, I've got to close it. We can't ever return." Mickey nodded and stuck out his hand for the Doctor to shake. Afterwords, he gave Clara a hug.

"Take Clara's phone." The Doctor tossed her phone to Mickey. "It's got the code. Get it out there. Stop those factories. And good luck, Mickey the idiot." He smiled. Mickey pointed at him, faking offense.

"Watch it." Biting her lip, Clara let the Doctor lead her into the TARDIS. They approached the console and the Doctor flicked a switch. He pointed to a button and Clara pressed it. The familiar "vwoorp, vwoorp" of the TARDIS echoed in the console room, which seemed too empty to Clara.

She couldn't help but feel that it was her fault that both Rose and Mickey had left.

* * *

**A/N: **Another chapter done! I hope you liked it. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought!

Also, you should go check out my other Doctor Who story! ;)


	13. There's Magic in The Air

There's Magic in The Air

Clara laid back on her bed, her feet hanging off. She was repeatedly opening and closing her broken pocket watch. There was a soft knock on her door. She looked, already knowing who was there.

"Do you want to leave, too?" The Doctor asked, a pained expression painted on his face. Clara's stomach twisted; she hated seeing him upset! It was even more heartbreaking to see this regeneration sad than his eleventh.

"No! No, of course not." Clara stood up and rushed over to him. It was obvious that he needed a hug, so she gave him one. He held her tight, as if she was his lifeline. "I'm never gonna leave you, okay?" She regretted it as soon as she said it, even though she knew it was what he needed to hear.

She was going to leave him. She had to. One day, he would be abducted to the Dalek asylum and actually meet one of her echoes. Then, in Victorian London, he'd be face to face with one. After that, he'd meet the real her. And she couldn't be around for that. The TARDIS- the future TARDIS, at least- could barely stand one Clara, let alone two.

Plus, she'd leave him again. When he found that new companion, she'd leave for her first time, but it'd be the second time she left to him.

The Doctor seemed comforted by her words, though, even though he also knew she couldn't stay forever. No human could.

"Let's go somewhere," he said suddenly, pulling back to gauge her reaction to his suggestion.

"I'm-" She was going to protest- she was _exhausted _from her day and night in the parallel world- but she couldn't. Unlike the future Doctor, this one didn't hide his feelings from her. And right now, he needed her to distract him. "Okay. Where should we go?" He beamed, slipped his hand into hers, and bounded down to the console room.

"Somewhere low key," he stated, pressing a few buttons. "Hold that lever down there. We can land on a Sunday." He paused, laughing.

"I don't think I've ever said that before! Let's land on a Sunday! Ha!" He typed something into the typewriter. Clara continued to hold down the lever and leaned forward to twist the knob he pointed to.

"Earth." The Doctor announced after a bumpy landing. "1994. London, England. November first."

"Must be chilly," Clara said. "I should get a jacket." The Doctor nodded and she scurried off to the wardrobe, snagging a cute, leather jacket she spotted. She returned to the console room and the two of them left the TARDIS.

Lalala

The two of them sipped hot cocoa as they walked aimlessly down the streets of London, holding hands. Clara had been right; it was pretty nippy out. If she hadn't been holding the Doctor's hand, the hand not holding her drink would be stuffed in a pocket. Instead, it was raw from the cold wind whipping at it, but she didn't care. Any time the Doctor held her hand just to hold it, she got this warm, bubbly feeling. She loved it.

Clara had never experienced something so low key with the Doctor before! No aliens, no corrupt gangs, nothing. They merely wandered the streets of London, people watching.

Both were able to keep their minds off of their troubling thoughts. The Doctor, joking around with Clara, was able to forget how all his friends leave him in the end, and how it was stupid of him to fall in love with one of them. Clara, laughing at the Doctor's whipped cream mustache, forgot about the nagging feeling that she was the reason both Mickey and Rose left and that she lost her mum all over again. A simple day in London was the perfect distraction for the both of them.

"Anything in particular you want to do?" The Doctor asked after a while. Clara shrugged, stuffing one hand in her jacket pocket. She had thrown out her empty cup a while ago. She shrugged.

"I don't know." She said, looking around for something to inspire her. "Want to get some food?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"You know I don't carry cash. Do you have any?" Clara rolled her eyes, dragging him towards a cute little cafe she had spotted.

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't!" She replied, giggling. He pretended to put up a fight, but gave up after a minute and walked alongside her once more.

They entered the cafe, scanning the place for an open table. There were't any.

"We could go somewhere else," Clara offered, a little sad. This place was cute and she wanted to eat there!

"No, look." The Doctor pointed to a table. "We can ask her if she minds us joining her." At a table big enough to seat four, a lone woman sat with her back to them. She had strawberry blonde hair and was slouching. Even from behind, Clara could tell she was discouraged about something.

"Excuse me, Miss?" The Doctor charmingly caught the woman's attention. "There are no empty tables. Do you mind if we join you?" The woman shook her head, gesturing to the empty seats.

"Go right ahead." Clara and the Doctor sat next to each other, Clara across from the woman.

The woman had a half empty cup of coffee on the table and was staring down sadly at a stack of papers held together by a binder clip.

"What's that?" The Doctor asked curiously, waving a hand to catch a waitress's attention. Clara elbowed him.

"Rude," she mouthed. He shrugged sheepishly.

"My manuscript," the woman replied. "I've been trying to get it published." Clara felt sympathy for her; she looked so heartbroken!

"No luck?" She asked as kindly as she could. The woman shook her head, taking a swig of her cold coffee.

"I just got rejected, again." A waiter walked up to them. Clara ordered two coffees, a salad, and a side of fries. The Doctor got tea and a sandwich. As soon as the coffees came, Clara gave one to the woman.

"Oh no, I couldn't-"

"I insist. Everyone deserves a hot cup of coffee on a cold day." Clara pushed the mug across the table. "So, what's you're book about?"

"A boy who goes to a wizarding school." The woman took a gratefully large gulp of the coffee. Clara and the Doctor glanced at each other._ It can't be_, Clara thought.

"What's your name?" The Doctor asked. "I'm the Doctor and this is Clara." Clara gave her a little wave.

"Jo Rowling," the woman replied. Clara's eyes widened, her suspicions confirmed. The Doctor's face broke into a grin.

"What a brilliant name!" He crowed, drinking a bit of his tea. Jo tucked her hair behind her ear.

"It's not that great of a name." The Doctor shook his head.

"Of course it is! Could take a look at your manuscript?"

"Doctor! You can't just-" Clara reprimanded, halting when Jo handed him her papers. Clara, not wanting to be left out, leaned over his shoulder and read along with him. Her eyes were met with the familiar words of the first chapter.

_Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of Number Four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. _The Doctor flipped through the pages, landing on a different chapter. _"I'm his second," Ron said, "who's yours?" Malfoy eyed his friends. "Crabbe." He decided._ The Doctor flipped again. _"Books and cleverness." Hermione said. "There are more important things. Loyalty. Courage. You're a great wizard, Harry."_

"This is really good," Clara gushed, awed over seeing the actual manuscript of the world's most beloved book series. The Doctor nodded in agreement.

"I wonder what those publishers were thinking," he murmured, eyes moving back and forth at an impressive speed. "This is fantastic." Jo looked embarrassed and pleased at their praise.

The Doctor returned the papers to Jo. "I'm serious, you should keep trying. That could be a bestseller one day." Jo smiled.

"Well, I doubt that, but thank you." She looked back and forth between the two of them. "So, how long have you been together?" She asked politely. Clara blushed immediately.

"No, we're not together!" Clara said, shaking her head.

"Definitely not together," the Doctor agreed, looking a little red himself. Jo raised her eyebrows.

"Oh. I'm sorry, you two just seem so close! I shouldn't have assumed." Jo apologized, choking back a laugh. The two were so insistent that they weren't together, yet it was written on both of their faces that they liked each other!

"I'd better go pay the bill," Clara excused herself, grabbing her purse and the slip of paper off the table. She made her way to the cash register, glancing back a few times. Jo was intently telling the Doctor something. Her back was to Clara so she couldn't tell what it was. Whatever it was, though, the Doctor seemed embarrassed about it.

Clara paid the bill quickly, accepted her change, and headed back to the table. The coffee was wearing off, and she was really feeling tired from her incredibly long day. She was ready to curl up in bed and sleep for days.

"Just tell her," Jo finished whatever she was saying.

"Tell who what?" Clara asked curiously. Jo simply shook her head and the Doctor remained silent. The Doctor stood up.

"I guess we should get going, then," he said, sighing a little. His cheeks were still a little pink. "It was so wonderful meeting you Jo." He shook her hand warmly. She stood, as well, and smiled at the pair. Clara gave her a hug.

"Don't give up on that book." Clara wagged her finger at Jo. "I'll bet you anything that one day, every kid in the country will know Harry's name." Jo laughed at that.

"It was lovely meeting you. Thank you for everything."

The two left, making their way to the TARDIS. It took a while; they had walked quite a ways when they had wandered London.

Eventually, they made it. They slipped in when no one was looking, and left the small street in London. As the TARDIS hovered in the Time Vortex, the Doctor stopped pushing buttons and flipping switches.

"What's up?" Clara asked as he stared at her intensely.

"Nothing," he said, his voice hoarse. He cleared it. "I just wanted to tell you something." Clara sat in the captain's chair and patted next to her for him to sit. He complied, turning so he could face her.

"What is it?" The Doctor swallowed visibly. Clara couldn't think of anything that would make him so nervous.

Without a word, the Doctor leaned in and kissed her softly.

* * *

**A/N: **There you go! The moment you've all been waiting for (or, at least, _I've _been waiting for this)! I hope you like how it played out- I know I do. Leave me a review and let me know if you liked it.

What do you think of J.K. Rowling being in here? I really liked it, and I'm happy I worked it in. If you want to know what Jo was saying to the Doctor, basically she got him to admit he liked Clara and convinced him to tell her.

Until next time, sweeties!


	14. Together

Together

Clara knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't help herself. She kissed him back, just as softly as he kissed her. Her hands found his and she held them loosely.

He pulled back after a moment. Clara bit her lip, looking up at him. What did this mean? Were they... _together _now? She didn't know.

"You were saying?" She asked a bit breathlessly. For such a simple kiss, it had really taken her breath away. The Doctor, who had looked so serious a second ago, smiled nervously.

"I think you know, Clara." He said, standing up. He kept his hands in hers and lead her down the hall, walking backwards.

"I think I know, too," Clara admitted. "But, I'd like to hear you say it." The Doctor shook his head, smile still playing on his lips. His grin was so infectious that she found herself beaming, as well.

"Nah, I don't think it needs saying." Clara rolled her eyes. If she was to take this as him liking her, and if they were together now, she was going to get him to say it. Maybe not right then, but someday.

He led her to her room, opening the door for her. "I think it's time for the human to get some rest." Clara nodded, a yawn breaking through her lips. In a moment of bravery, she stood up on her tiptoes and pecked the Doctor on the lips.

"Good night," she murmured sleepily, walking into her room. The Doctor stood there in a slight daze. It was one thing to be the one initiating the kiss, and another to know she wanted to kiss him, too.

Clara smiled to herself as she took a quick shower. She didn't stop smiling even when she climbed into bed, turning the light off.

Lalala

Clara sleepily made herself some coffee and eggs, moving about the kitchen slowly. Her mind was only half thinking about her task, while the other half buzzed over the two kisses that had occurred the night before.

The Doctor appeared in the doorway, smiling at her. "Good morning." She smiled back, flipping an egg.

"Morning, Doctor," she said, yawning. "What shall we do today?" The egg broke, leading Clara to scowl. She hated when the eggs broke.

"I guess they'll be scrambled eggs now, eh?" The Doctor asked jokingly, taking the spatula from her. He began to scramble her eggs. He was quiet a moment.

"You kissed me last night." He said finally. She nodded, a little confused.

"You kissed me first," she reminded him. He nodded.

"I know, I just-"

"You said I knew what that meant."

"And I'm sure you do." He paused, searching for the right words. "I guess I didn't realize you felt the same way." He scraped the eggs from the pan and into a bowl.

"Of course I do," Clara mumbled, pouring herself a cup of coffee. "How could I not?" The last part was to herself, but the Doctor heard anyway. He handed her the bowl of eggs and a fork.

"I'm glad you do," he said after a moment. Clara nodded, shoveling some eggs into her mouth.

"Is it going to keep being awkward like this?" She asked lightly. The Doctor shook his head, leaning down and kissing her. Quickly, she swallowed her eggs and kissed him back.

"No more awkwardness," he promised. "Now, where should we go today? We could meet Shakespeare, or go to the Lost Moon of Poosh- before it was lost, of course- or-" Clara laughed, glad things were kind of getting back to normal. Well, as normal as they could be without Rose or Mickey there. And with the two of them together like they were now.

"What if we went and met Monet?" Clara suggested brightly. Monet was the only painter she liked. Hell, he was the only thing from history that she really liked. The Doctor grinned.

"Alright, then! Finish up your eggs and off we'll go!" He gave her a kiss on the forehead this time, then bounded off to who know's where.

Lalala

The Doctor was laughing loudly and Clara was pouting as they reentered the TARDIS, fresh from their trip to visit Monet. Both of them were covered in different colors of paint. Clara's entire nose was yellow. The Doctor's hair was mostly red.

"That was hilarious!" The Doctor wheezed, gripping a railing to keep him from falling over.

"That wasn't funny!" Clara whined. "Monet hates me, now!" The Doctor couldn't stop laughing and just shook his head. Clara grumbled to herself, arms crossed. "I'm gonna go shower."

"Aw, Clara!" The Doctor called after her. "I'm sure Monet doesn't hate you! I can go back and explain to him-" Clara was out of earshot by then, so he gave up.

After her shower, Clara was in an even worse mood. Bits of blue and green paint still clung to her hair, refusing to wash out. The Doctor tried, in vain, to cheer her up. Until, finally, he had an idea.

"How about we watch a movie?" He suggested. She glanced up from a blue section of her hair.

"What movie?" She asked, giving up on her hair. She pulled it up into a messy, wet bun on top of her head. The Doctor shrugged.

"I've got loads in the movie room-"

"You've got a _movie room_?" Clara cried. "How did I not know this?" The Doctor just laughed at her. He held out his hand and she took it.

After Clara finished gushing about how amazing the movie room was- an entire wall filled with DVDs, and a 40 inch flat screen!- Clara was faced with the dilemma of choosing a movie. Should she go with something she'd seen before, or something she hadn't? A classic, a movie from her time, or a movie from the future?

"I give up," Clara moaned. "You pick something." The Doctor shrugged and picked a movie.

"How about the first _Harry Potter_?" He asked, pulling it from the shelf. "Since we met J. K. Rowling and everything." Clara nodded happily.

"That one's my favorite, anyway." She made her way over to the popcorn maker in the room- she had spent at least five minutes freaking out about that- and made herself and the Doctor some popcorn while he set up the film.

The two sat snuggled on the comfy couch, a blanket draped over them. The bowl of popcorn was nestled in both of their laps. The movie started and Clara leaned her head on the Doctor's shoulder. He then rested his head on top of hers.

Clara could barely concentrate on the movie. She was too happy to be cuddling with the Doctor like she was. She never would have thought that would happen. And she was enjoying herself immensely.

At the end of the movie, Clara looked up to see that the Doctor had fallen asleep. Vaguely, Clara wondered when he had slept last. She hadn't realized he was so tired.

Feeling very happy that she could do it now, Clara leaned over and gave him a light kiss, careful not to wake him up. Then, she snuggled even closer and let herself fall asleep, too.

She didn't see the small smile on his face.

* * *

**A/N: **Damn, I'm just whipping these chapters out, aren't I? I hope you're enjoying it, because I don't know how long this'll last! I just have a lot of free time lately.

Leave a review and let me know what you think! I've just realized that I actually find myself writing a chapter as soon as I get three or four reviews, which is why some of the chapters come out more quickly that others. So, leave a review for a quicker update!

By the way, if you haven't yet, go check out my other Doctor Who story, Come Along Pond, Allons-y!


	15. The Idiot's Lantern, Part One

The Idiot's Lantern, Part One

"Clara, hurry up!" Clara thought she heard something like a motor revving, but she wasn't sure. Shrugging it off, she finished pulling her brown locks into a tight ponytail. Slipping a white headband in place, she buttoned her white cardigan. She smoothed her pink poodle dress, bounced a little in her heels, and smiled at herself in the wardrobe mirror. She definitely looked like something out of the fifties.

"I'm coming!" She called. "So, why are we in the fifties, again?" She wasn't sure where the Doctor was, but he could hear her. She heard him scoff jokingly.

"You are kidding, aren't you?" He asked, his voice echoing down the hall. Clara made her way to the console room, heels clicking as she walked. "You want to see Elvis, you go for the late fifties. The time before burgers. When they called him the Pelvis and he still had a waist. What's more, you see him in style." The Doctor wasn't in the console room, so she let herself outside. She closed the door behind her, only for it to open back up with a flourish as the Doctor rode a scooter out.

Clara giggled a little at his hair, all down up in a quiff. He smiled at her. Maybe he winked, but she couldn't tell through the shades he wore. "You going my way, doll?" He asked in a, Elvis like voice. Clara laughed out loud. She pulled a pair of oval shaped, pink tinted sunglasses and slipped them on.

"Is there any other way to go, daddy-o? Straight from the fridge, man." She climbed carefully on the scooter, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.

"Hey, you speak the lingo," the Doctor noticed. Clara shook her head.

"My mum used to love fifties movies," she admitted. "I used to watch them while I played with my dolls." The Doctor nodded, careful not to carry on a conversation about Ellie. He zoomed off down the street, Clara's skirt flapping as they drove.

Clara rested her chin on his shoulder, watching as the scenery passed them by. After a moment, she spoke up.

"Where we off to?" She asked, lips grazing his ear slightly. He shivered before replying, tilting his head to the side so that she could hear him.

"Ed Sullivan TV Studios. Elvis did Hound Dog on one of the shows. There were loads of complaints. Bit of luck, we'll just catch it." Clara eyed a red London bus on the other side of the street.

"And that'll be TV studios in, what, New York?" She asked lightly, aware that he hadn't taken them where he meant to.

"That's the one."

Right then, he pulled to the side of the road and saw what she was seeing, Union Flags everywhere, red post boxes, and London buses.

"Oh, yea," she said, patting his shoulders. "Really looks like America."

"Well, this could still be New York. I mean, this looks very New York to me. Sort of Londony New York, mind." He rambled, mirroring her smile as they laughed at his mistake.

"What are all the flags for?" She asked after a second. They looked around, trying to figure that out. The Doctor pointed out a delivery van with the name _Magpie_ written on the side that was delivering television sets.

"Check that out," he said. He slid off the scooter and helped Clara off it. They made their way over to the van.

"There you go, sir, all wired up for the great occasion," Mr. Magpie, Clara assumed, said to the man holding the TV.

"The great occasion? What do you mean?" The Doctor butted in, holding Clara's hand as they walked up to them.

"Where've you been living, out in the Colonies? Coronation, of course." Magpie said snidely.

"What Coronation's that then?" The Doctor asked, scratching his ear. Magpie looked at him like he was mad.

"What do you mean? The Coronation." He repeated unhelpfully. Clara elbowed the Doctor

"It's the Queen's," she supplied. "Queen Elizabeth." The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"Oh! Is this 1953?" Clara shook her head. He didn't even try to hide his strangeness, did he? Magpie barked out a laugh.

"Last time I looked. Time for a lovely bit of pomp and circumstance, what we do best." Clara looked around, noticing televisions in just about everyone's windows.

"Look at all the TV aerials. Looks like everyone's got one," Clara commented. "That's weird. My nan said tellies were so rare they all had to pile into one house." Magpie shook his head.

"Not around here, love. Magpie's Marvellous Tellies, only five quid a pop." The Doctor began pacing lazily, pulling Clara with him.

"Oh, but this is a brilliant year. Classic! Technicolour, Everest climbed, everything off the ration. The nation throwing off the shadows of war and looking forward to a happier, brighter future." He went on. He was about to say more, but a woman cried out, capturing everyone's attention.

"Someone help me, please! Ted!" The woman yelled, running after two burly men dragged a person wrapped in blanket. They shoved the covered person into the back of a car. Clara's eyes widened. "Leave him alone! He's my husband! Please." The woman sobbed. The Doctor and Clara ran over to them.

"What's going on?" Clara asked. A young boy ran out of the next house over.

"Oi, what are you doing?" He demanded. One of the men looked down at him, a sneer on his face.

"Police business. Now, get out of the way, sir." He shoved the boy out of the way and climbed into the car. Clara walked over to the boy.

"Who did they take?" She asked, looking back at the car as it drove away. "Do you know him?"

The boy shrugged. "Must be Mister Gallagher."

"Oh my..." Clara whispered, stomach twisting. What was going on?

"It's happening all over the place. They're turning into monsters." The boy continued. A man standing outside the boy's house, clearly the boy's father, starting yelling.

"Tommy! Not one word! Get inside now!" Tommy looked scared of his father, which worried Clara immensely.

"Sorry. I'd better do as he says," he explained, running home. Watching them go, the Doctor took Clara's hand and led her back to the scooter. They climbed on swiftly.

"All aboard!" The Doctor hollered. He revved the engine and off they went, chasing the car.

After a few minutes, the Doctor finally admitted that they were gone.

"Lost them. How'd they get away from us?" The Doctor asked, parking the scooter and using a leg to hold it up.

" Surprised they didn't turn back and arrest you for reckless driving," Clara said, ignoring the rhetorical question. She poked his shoulder. "Have you actually passed your test?" The Doctor turned to look at her, raising a single eyebrow.

"Men in black? Vanishing police cars? This is Churchill's England, not Stalin's Russia." He continued. Clara bit her lip, thinking.

"Monsters, Tommy said. Maybe we should go and ask the neighbors." Clara suggested brightly, trying to up the mood a bit. The Doctor smiled at her, eyes bordering on adoring.

"That's what I like about you. The domestic approach." He balanced the bike back up again. Clara nodded, pleased.

"Thank you!" She paused, processing exactly what he said. "Hold on, was that an insult?" Without an answer, the Doctor sped off in the direction they had come from.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry it took a while, but here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it (leave me a review telling me if you did!)

So, I'm gonna be skipping a few episodes. The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit will be skipped, along with Love and Monsters. I hope that's okay with everyone.

Until next time, lovelies!


	16. The Idiot's Lantern, Part Two

The Idiot's Lantern, Part Two

Clara and the Doctor approached Tommy's door, hand in hand. The Doctor raised his hand to knock on the door.

"I want to knock!" Clara protested. The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her and she raised both of hers. "I want to knock." She repeated firmly. He smiled and her, letting his arm drop. He kissed her lightly on the mouth.

"Go ahead, then," he told her. Smiling, she knocked on the door. The door opened a moment later.

"Hi!" The two of them chorused, Cheshire grins on both of their faces. Tommy's father glowered at them.

"Who are you, then?" He demanded. The Doctor looked him up and down while digging his psychic paper out.

"Let's see, then. Judging by the look of you, family man, nice house, decent wage, fought in the war, therefore I represent Queen and country." He thrust the psychic paper in the man's face, confident that it said what he wants. After a moment, he flipped it shut and returned it to his jacket pocket.

"Just doing a little check of Her forthcoming Majesty's subjects before the great day." Keeping hold of Clara's hand, the Doctor pushed past Tommy's father, inviting himself in. "Don't mind if I come in? Nah, I didn't think you did. Thank you."

Clara let go of the Doctor's hand, inspecting the living room as the Doctor wandered

"Not bad," he commented. "Very nice. Very well kept. I'd like to congratulate you, Mrs-?" He was speaking to Tommy's mother. She had a nervous demeanor.

"Connolly," she answered softly. "Rita Connolly, sir." Tommy's father walked next to his wife.

"Now then, Rita. I can handle this. This gentleman's a proper representative," he turned to the Doctor, a fake grin on his face. "Don't mind the wife, she rattles on a bit." The Doctor seemed taken aback at how Mr. Connolly treated his wife.

"Well, maybe she should rattle on a bit more," he said rudely. "I'm not convinced you're doing your patriotic duty." He fingered a Union Flag that was lying on a table. "Nice flags. Why are they not flying?" Mr. Connolly, obviously flustered by the Doctor, waved at his wife.

"There we are Rita! I told you, get them up. Queen and country." Rita demurely reached for the flags, head bowed.

"I'm sorry." She muttered.

"Get it done. Do it now!" Mr. Connolly commanded. The Doctor looked very upset.

"Hold on a minute.," he said. Mr. Connolly ignored him.

"Like the gentleman says," he continued.

"Hold on a minute!" The Doctor successfully got everyone's attention. "You've got hands, Mr. Connolly. Two big hands. So why is that your wife's job?" Mr. Connolly shrugged.

"Well, it's housework, innit?" He asked dumbly. The Doctor raised his eyebrows, sharing a look with Clara.

"And that's a woman's job?" The Doctor went on. Clara would have said something, but she knew that Mr. Connolly wouldn't listen to her. In his eyes, she was just a woman.

"Of course it is," Mr. Connolly replied. The Doctor paused, thinking of what he would say next.

"Mr. Connolly, what gender is the Queen?" He asked carefully.

"She's a female."

"And are you suggesting the Queen does the housework?" The Doctor asked. Mr. Connolly's face reddened.

"No. Not at all." He muttered. The Doctor handed him the linked flags.

"Then get busy."

"Right. Yes, sir." He began hanging up the flags. "You'll be proud of us, sir. We'll have Union Jacks left, right and centre." Clara tilted her head, smirking. Now, it was her turn to talk.

"Excuse me, Mr. Connolly." She said. "Hang on a minute. Union Jacks?" She leaned against the couch, looking up at Mr. Connolly.

"Yes, that's right, isn't it?" Mr. Connolly replied, continuing his work.

"That's the Union Flag," Clara informed him, a little sassier than she normally would have. "It's the Union Jack only when it's flown at sea." Mr. Connolly's face darkened even more.

"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry, I do apologize." Clara plucked a fallen flag and dropped it in Mr. Connolly's hand.

"Well, don't get it wrong again." Clara smiled sweetly. "There's a good man. Now get to it!"

"Right then! Nice and comfy, at Her Majesty's leisure." The Doctor nodded, hands in his pockets. He made his way to Clara. "Union Flag?" He asked quietly. Before she could answer, Rita offered them a seat on the couch, which they politely accepted.

"I nannied for a sailor's family when I was twenty," she answered. "I picked up a thing or two." The Doctor looked impressed.

"Anyway, I'm the Doctor and this is Clara," The Doctor introduced himself to Rita and Tommy. "And you are?"

"Tommy," Tommy replied, shifting from one foot to the other.

"Well, sit yourself down, Tommy. Have a look at this." He gestured to the TV. "I love telly, don't you?" Tommy nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, I think it's brilliant." The Doctor nodded approvingly.

"Good man!" He glanced at Mr. Connolly, who had stopped working to glare at him "Keep working, Mr. C! Now, why don't you tell me what's wrong?" Rita wrung her hands nervously.

"Did you say you were a doctor?" She asked after a moment.

"Yes, I am." He replied seriously. Rita appeared relieved.

"Can you help her?" She grabbed the Doctor's arm. "Oh please, can you help her, Doctor?" She looked desperate.

"Now then, Rita. I don't think the gentleman needs to know-" Mr. Connolly interrupted fiercely.

"No, the gentleman does." The Doctor corrected, just as fierce. Clara moved to be next to Rita, placing a hand gently on her shoulder.

"Tell us what's wrong," she said softly, "and we can help." Rita burst into tears and Clara did her best to comfort the sobbing woman.

"I'm sorry. It's all right." She hugged Rita. "Come here. It's okay." She rubbed Rita's back.

"Hold on a minute." Mr. Connolly sounded pissed. "Queen and country's one thing, but this is my house! What the-?" He threw the bunting down. "What the hell am I doing? Now you listen here, Doctor. You may have fancy qualifications, but what goes on under my roof is my business." The Doctor stood up strongly.

"A lot of people are being bundled into-"

"I am talking!" Mr. Connolly roared.

"And I'm not listening!" The Doctor yelled, even louder. Rita cried harder. "Now you, Mr. Connolly, you are staring into a deep, dark pit of trouble if you don't let me help. So I'm ordering you, sir! Tell me what's going on!"

"Doctor!" Clara shouted. "Calm down. You're scaring them." She gestured to Rita's crying figure, and Tommy's nervous one. "And me," she added softly. The Doctor's anger faded immediately and he grabbed Clara's hand.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, pulling her close. "I didn't mean to-" Clara shook her head.

"I know," she said. "Just stop, okay?" He nodded solemnly, kissing the back of her hand. They were interrupted by thumping on the ceiling. They all looked up.

"She won't stop." Mr. Connolly told them after a moment. "She never stops." Clara looked at them all.

"What's going on?" She asked, eyes on Tommy.

"We started hearing stories, all round the place." Tommy began, fiddling with his hands. "People who've changed. Families keeping it secret because they were scared. Then, the police started finding out. We don't know how, no one does. They just turn up, come to the door and take them, any time of the day or night." The Doctor squeezed Clara's hand.

"Show me." He said. Tommy nodded and led Clara and the Doctor upstairs, to a room at the end of the hall. It was dark in the room as Tommy opened the door.

"Gran? It's Tommy. It's all right, Gran. I've brought help." Tommy flicked the light on. Clara gasped at what she saw. An elderly woman, with no face at all. No eyes, no mouth, no nose. Nothing.

"Her face is completely gone," the Doctor observed. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and soniced her. "Scarcely an electrical impulse left. Almost complete neural shutdown. She's ticking over. It's like her brain has been wiped clean."

"What're we going to do, Doctor?" Tommy asked, clearly upset. "We can't even feed her." A loud thump and crack was heard. Clara ran to the stairs and saw that the door was being knocked down.

"We've got company!" She called. Rita, grabbing her mother's shoulders, cried out.

"It's them. They've come for her!" The Doctor looked from Clara to Rita.

"Quickly. What was she doing before this happened?" He asked urgently. Men in black were stampeding up the stairs and Clara was trying to hold them off. She was unsuccessful and was pushed against the wall. "Where was she? Tell me. Quickly, think!"

"I can't think!" Tommy exclaimed. "She doesn't leave the house! She was just-" The men had made it to the room, Clara right behind them.

"Hold on a minute. There are three important, brilliant, and complicated reasons why you should listen to me. One-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence, as he got punched in the face.

"Doctor!" Clara elbowed her way past the men and knelt next to the Doctor. She watched in horror as the men threw a blanket over Tommy's gran and dragged her out of the house. "Doctor, wake up! Come on!"

"Leave her alone!" Rita cried, chasing after the men. "Don't hurt her!"

The Doctor sat up quickly, almost knocking Clara in the head. He rubbed his nose. "Ah, hell of a right hook. Have to watch out for that." He jumped up, holding his hand out for Clara. She took it, and they flew down the stairs. Clara struggled to keep up with him.

"Clara, come on!" They made their way to the door. As they ran, Clara noticed red energy coming from the Connolly's TV.

"What the-?" She murmured, still being dragged outside. The Doctor hopped on the scooter, but Clara was a bit too slow. She was just swinging her leg over the scooter when the Doctor took off.

"Clara, we're going to lose them again!" The scooter zipped out from under her and she fell on her butt.

"Doctor!" She yelled, rubbing her bottom, but it was no use. He was gone.

* * *

**A/N: **Yet another chapter done! I hope you enjoyed it- I'm enjoying writing this episode a lot more than I thought I would have. Let me know what you think in a review!

By the way, you should go to my profile and vote in the poll I have going on! I'd love your input. And, while you're there, you might as well check out my other Doctor Who fanfiction, Come Along Pond, Allons-y!

Until next time, honeys!


	17. The Idiot's Lantern, Part Three

The Idiot's Lantern, Part Three

Clara had no idea what to do. The Doctor had just stranded her in a random neighborhood and ran off to who knows where. Eventually, she decided to head back to the TARDIS. On her way, she passed Magpie's TV shop. Something weird was going on, so Clara, being the curious woman she was, went in. Magpie was fiddling with something behind the counter, but looked at her when the door bell alerted him of her arrival.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss," Magpie said nervously. "I'm afraid you're too late. I was just about to lock the door." Clara, guard up, walked slowly around the shop, looking at the retro TVs.

"Yeah? Well, I want to buy a telly." She countered, fingers brushing the controls on a telly. Magpie looked distressed.

"Come back tomorrow, please." He practically begged. Clara raised her eyebrows. Something was definitely going on around here.

"You'll be closed, won't you?" She reminded him. He looked confused and distracted.

"What?"

"For the big day?" She elaborated. He looked at her blankly. "The coronation." Magpie nodded, waving his arms around.

"Yes, yes, of course. The big day." He turned back to whatever he was fiddling with. "I'm sure you'll find somewhere to watch it. Please go." Clara scowled, put off. He was clearly hiding something, and Clara was betting that it had something to do with the faceless people. There just couldn't be two mysteries going on in one neighborhood.

"Seems to me half of London's got a television, since you're practically giving them away." She said casually, biding her time. Magpie shrugged.

"I have my reasons."

"And what are they?" She pressed, feigning disinterest. Suddenly, one of the TVs turned on. A woman's face was on the screen. Just her face. She looked upset.

"Hungry! Hungry!" The TV woman moaned. Clara's eyes widened.

"What's that?" Clara asked, half pointing at the TV. Magpie, looking more nervous than ever, swallowed hard.

"It's just a television. One of these modern programs." He wrung his hands together. "Now, I really do think you should leave. Right now!" He was practically pushing her out the door, but she held firm. She wasn't going anywhere until she found out what was going on!

"Not until you've answered my questions.," she insisted, hands on hips. "How come's your televisions are so cheap?" Magpie looked everywhere but her face.

"It's my patriotic duty. Seems only right that as many folk as possible get to watch the coronation. We may be losing the Empire but we can still be proud. Twenty million people they reckon'll be watching. Imagine that. And twenty million people can't be wrong, eh, so why don't you get yourself back home and get up, bright and early, for the big day." He opened the door for her. She shook her head, her ponytail whipping around her head.

"Nah, I'm not leaving till I've seen everything," she said. She eyed the woman on the telly. There was something wrong about her.

"I need to close," Magpie stated. Clara was starting to lose her cool.

"Mr. Magpie, something's happening out there. Ordinary people are being struck down and changed, and the only new thing in the house is a television. Your television. What's going on?" She snapped. Magpie searched for a reason, but came up with nothing. He sighed, giving up his charade.

"I knew this would happen," he muttered. "I knew I'd be found out." He locked the door to the shop. Clara's breath hitched in her throat. For a moment, she thought he was going to kill her. She took a breath, trying to rebuild her courage. Or, at least, feign bravery.

"All right, then, it's just you and me." She raised her eyebrows again. "You going to come clean, then? What's really in it for you?" Magpie laughed humorlessly.

"For me? Perhaps some peace." Clara was feeling even more worried.

"From what?" She asked cautiously. Magpie pointed to the woman on the TV.

"From her."

"That's just a woman on the telly. That's just a TV program." Clara explained, her stomach twisting. In her gut, she knew that she was wrong. That woman was probably extremely dangerous.

"What a pretty little girl," a woman's voice chilled Clara's bones. She whipped her head around, eyes wide as she looked at the TV.

"Are you talking to me?" She demanded. The woman on the telly smirked.

"Yes, I'm talking to you, little one." She said snidely. "Unseasonably chilly for the time of year, don't you think?" Clara tugged at her cardigan.

"What are you?" She asked. The woman became angry.

"I'm the Wire, and I'm hungry!" White energy crackled around the TV before jumping out and attaching to Clara's face. She grabbed at it, unable to grasp anything.

"Magpie, help me!" She shrieked, scratching at nothing. "Help me!" Everything around her was going black, the energy getting hotter.

"Doctor!" She cried in vain. "Doctor, help me!" She stumbled backwards, through the door and into the street.

Lalala

The next thing Clara knew, she was in an unfamiliar room. Frantically, her hands flew to her face. She felt her cheeks and nose and eyes, relieved to find them there. She hadn't any idea what had happened, but she was fairly sure she had become one of the faceless people.

"Doctor?" She called, looking around for him. She didn't know where she was, and she was scared. Being lost was her greatest fear. "Where am I?"

She moved to the door, letting herself outside. She spotted the Doctor on the street, running in her direction.

"Doctor!" She cried, running towards him. Even while running, Clara could tell that he looked relieved.

"Clara! You're okay," he said, pulling her into a hug. She squeezed him tight. "Thank God, you're alright." She buried her face in his shoulder, simply enjoying holding him.

"What happened?" She asked, voice muffled by his shoulder. Not letting her go, he explained how he had found her, faceless, in the street and had done all he could to fix it. He told her how he had captured the Wire on tape. She smiled, so happy that everything was fine.

"I love you," she told him sincerely. He smiled, hugging her again. She frowned, disappointed that he hadn't said it back.

Later, they were at a street party celebrating the coronation.

"We could go down the Mall, join in with the crowds," Clara said, as they walked hand in hand. The Doctor shook his head.

"Nah, that's just pomp and circumstance," he told her. He gestured around them. "This is history right here." Clara smiled, thinking about earlier.

"The domestic approach," she said. He grinned, looking down at her.

"Exactly."

Clara was quiet a moment. "Will the Wire be trapped for good on that video?" She asked. The Doctor shrugged.

"Hope so. Just to be on the safe side though, I'll use my unrivaled knowledge of transtemporal extirpation methods to neutralize the residual electronic pattern." Clara laughed outright, giggling at the techno babble.

"You what?" She asked through the giggles. He chuckled.

"I'm going to tape over it." He said. She held out her hand.

"Just leave it to me. I'm always doing that." He smiled and handed her the tape. She slipped it into her purse.

They walked over to Tommy, who was standing next to the Doctor's scooter as he watched Mr. Connolly leaving their house, bags in tow.

"Tell you what, Tommy, you can have the scooter. Little present. Best, er, keep it in the garage for a few years though, eh?" The Doctor said. Tommy half smiled and nodded. The Doctor traced his gaze and saw Mr. Connolly climbing into a car.

"Good riddance." Tommy muttered. The Doctor frowned.

"Is that it, then, Tommy? New monarch, new age, new world. No room for a man like Eddie Connelly." Tommy nodded firmly.

"That's right. He deserves it." Clara knelt down next to him, hands on her knees.

"Tommy, go after him." She told him. He looked at her like she was mad.

"What for?" She gave him a look.

"He's your dad," she reminded him. He shook his head.

"He's an idiot."

"Of course he is." She agreed. "Like I said, he's your dad. But you're clever. Clever enough to save the world, so don't stop there." She nodded towards the car. "Go on."

The Doctor and Clara watched Tommy run over to the car. Clara laid her head on the Doctor's shoulder, arm linked around his. She was still upset that he hadn't said "I love you" back, but she shoved that into the back of her mind. She concentrated on enjoying what she had right now.

And what she had right now was pretty great.

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you enjoyed this chapter and this whole episode! I really loved writing it. Leave me a review and let me know what you thought!

Until next time!


	18. Fob Watch

Fob Watch

Clara was in the wardrobe, leafing through various outfits. After their time in 1950, Clara had wanted to go farther back in time, so the Doctor had promised to take her to Elizabethan England. She was looking for an appropriate outfit.

Her mind wasn't really in it, though. She was thinking about how she had told the Doctor that she loved him and he hadn't said it back. Thinking about it now, she still felt hurt. Why didn't he say it? She had been so sure that he loved her, so why didn't he say it back?

"Clara, you ready?" The Doctor asked, climbing the stairs to the wardrobe.

"Huh?" Clara shook her head, grabbing the closest dress. "Yea. I just need to change." The Doctor nodded, leaving the wardrobe so she could switch outfits. She quickly changed, slipping on the silky red dress, and tied the corset tight. She didn't feel like hunting down other shoes, so her slip on flats would have to do.

Slowly, thoughts bouncing around her head, she descended the stairs. She made her way back to the console room, hand trailing on the rail. She hadn't bother to do anything to her hair, so it laid on her shoulders.

"Oh, you look amazing!" The Doctor exclaimed, staring at her as she entered. Any other day, she would have blushed and been pleased. She would have said "thank you", complimented him, and they would have been off. Instead, she decided to speak what was on her mind.

"Why didn't you say it back?" She asked softly, looking up at him with sad eyes. His eyebrows met in the middle, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

"Say what back?"

Clara's stomach felt like lead. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest and she felt heat at the base of her neck. She suddenly didn't want to know the answer. But, it was too late now. He wouldn't let it go now.

"I told you that I love you," she mumbled, embarrassed. "And you didn't say anything." The Doctor sighed.

"Oh, Clara," he whispered, sounding pained. He took her hand gently and led her to the captain's chair. Clara was suddenly reminded of how their first kiss was in that very spot. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I wish you hadn't said anything."

Clara's heart sunk and tears sprung into her eyes. This hurt even worse that being ripped into a million different pieces in the future Doctor's timeline. "Oh."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "No, I didn't mean it like that. I swear. It's just..." He ran a hand through his hair, tugging on it. "My life... my life is so long. So much longer than a human's. And, I've already lost so many people." Clara noticed how old his eyes looked. For the first time, she wondered exactly how old he really was.

He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. "I care about you, Clara. I really do. But, I have lost so many important people in my life. It's already going to be hard enough when you eventually leave me. I can't let it hurt any more."

Clara refused to cry. She felt horrible, but at the same time, she felt wonderful. He had all but said those three words- he just didn't want to admit it, in an attempt to lessen the pain when she left. That elated her. But, still, she felt terrible. Again, she wanted to promise that she would never leave him, but she couldn't. She didn't know how she would leave him this time; would she be forced to walk away, so that he could meet her for her first time? Would she die? She didn't know, but it hurt that she couldn't comfort him. Lies wouldn't be a comfort.

"Okay." Clara patted the Doctor's hand that held hers, holding his hand with both of hers. "Well, let's go to Elizabethan England, then!" The Doctor took a second to regain a smile, but he did. He popped up out of the chair, bounding towards the console. He began pointing at buttons Clara needed to push, at levers she needed to pull down, and switches she needed to flip.

For whatever reason, the TARDIS bounced around the Time Vortex _very _hard. So hard, in fact, that Clara was thrown on her butt, the contents of her small purse spilling onto the ground. Rubbing her bottom, she rolled over so she was on her knees as she collected her things.

"That was harder than it should have been," the Doctor told her, kneeling to help her. He picked the broken fob watch off the ground, staring at it with wide eyes. "Where did you get this?"

Clara gave him a funny look. "It was on the spaceship, where we met Reinette. I found it in the rubble. Why?" The Doctor appeared to be holding his breath, eyeing the watch carefully. Clara wondered if he thought the watch would explode.

"Have you ever opened it?" He asked seriously. Clara shook her head.

"No. It doesn't open."

"Open it." Clara gave him another weird look.

"I just said that it doesn't open."

"Open it!" He demanded, holding it out to her. She took it gingerly. She pressed the button and it didn't open.

"See." She pressed it again, harder. "It's stuck." The Doctor looked very distressed.

"Clara, that's a Gallifreyan fob watch! It could hold a Time Lord's entire essence in there." He paused. "Are you sure you found it on that spaceship?"

"Yes! I'm positive." Clara insisted. "If this is a Gallifreyan watch, then it's a coincidence. It doesn't open, and I didn't have it before the day I met you." The Doctor looked into her eyes intensely.

"Because you would make a hell of a lot more sense if this was yours." He said. "Open it!

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Clara shouted. "And I've tried! It's stuck!"

"The TARDIS perception filter didn't work on you! You never question anything like a normal person would. Sometimes, it's like you know more about the universe than I do!" He listed furiously. "Just open the damn locket!"

"STOP YELLING AT ME!" Clara exploded. In her fury, she threw the locket to the floor, where it popped open. Clara and the Doctor watched it, breath held.

Nothing happened.

"I told you." With that, Clara stomped off to her bedroom. She didn't feel like going anywhere anymore.

The TARDIS hummed angrily. Clara kicked the wall before plopping onto her bed.

"Oh, hush, you."

* * *

**A/N:** Did you enjoy this chapter? Let me know in a review! To me, that last bit is the TARDIS's reason for not liking Clara. Not only did she upset the Doctor, but she wasn't very nice to the TARDIS, either.

Until next time, sugars!


	19. Fear Her, Part One

Fear Her, Part One

"Clara." There was a soft knock at Clara's door, but she didn't feel like answering it. She didn't want to talk to the Doctor right then. "Clara, please let me in."

"Go away," she muttered, flipping angrily through the magazine she had found in her room. The TARDIS hummed at her, obviously telling her to talk to the door.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." The Doctor said. "I shouldn't have blown up at you."

"Yea, you shouldn't have." Clara was determined to stay in a bad mood. He held out the pocket watch to her. Without a word, she took it and threw it across the room. She didn't want it anymore. The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and sat on the edge of her bed. She scowled, but said nothing.

"I'll make it up to you." He spoke up after a minute or so in silence. "Come on." He jumped up, running to the console room. Clara rolled her eyes, not moving. She eyed the fob watch on the floor; it had popped open again when she threw it, and had a brand new crack in the glass.

The TARDIS jerked, causing Clara to fall back on her bed. She groaned, wondering where he was taking her. No matter how mad she was at him, she knew she'd go with him wherever he went. She loved him and couldn't stay mad at him for too long.

The TARDIS stopped jerking, so she sighed and walked out of the room. As she made her way to the console room, she police box jerked to the side suddenly, and she bumped her head on the wall.

"Damn," she mumbled, rubbing her head as she continued walking.

"Are you alright?" The Doctor asked, concerned, when he noticed her hand on her head. She nodded shortly, ignoring the throbbing pain it caused.

"So, where are we?" She asked. "And when, as well?" The Doctor opened the door for her and she stepped through. They were on a street in a neighborhood in London.

"A little in your past," he replied. "I thought you'd like it. 2012, the Olympics!" Just then, Clara saw the giant sign for the Olympics waving in the breeze. Despite her attempts to stay angry, she grinned. She had been so disappointed when she wasn't able to see the Olympics live, so this was great. Sneakily, the Doctor slipped his hand in hers while she marveled over the sign.

"Only seems like yesterday a few naked Greek blokes were tossing a discus about, wrestling each other in the sand with crowds stood around baying," he said. He paused a second. "No, wait a minute, that was Club Med." They began walking down the street, and the Doctor swung their arms back and forth. Clara tried to be annoyed by it, but she couldn't. "We're just in time for the opening doo dah, ceremony, tonight, I thought you'd like that. Last one they had in London was dynamite. Wembley, 1948. I loved it so much, I went back and watched it all over again. Fella carrying the torch. Lovely chap, what was his name?" The Doctor was rambling, but Clara didn't care.

Despite all the time travel she did with the Doctor, the thing that always got her was when they went only a little in the future or past. It was strange to see things so similar, yet not quite right.

Clara watched as a man taped a poster to a lamp post. The Doctor continued to talk, not even noticing that she wasn't paying attention.

"Mark?" He was listing names. "John? Matt? Legs like pipe cleaners, but strong as a whippet." Clara's eyes widened when the man stepped back and she saw what was on the poster. It was a Missing poster for a child.

"Doctor," she said, halting. The Doctor stopped, but kept talking.

"And in those days, everybody had a tea party to go to." She didn't even know what he was talking about by then. Clara yanked gently on his arm.

"Doctor!" She started dragging him towards the lamp post with the poster. He looked down at her, smiling. He was probably happy that she wasn't angry with him anymore.

"Did you ever have one of those little cakes with the crunchy ball bearings on top?" He asked randomly. She gave him a weird look.

She nodded to the poster and said, "You should really look at this."

"Do you know those things? Nobody else in this entire galaxy's ever even bothered to make edible ball bearings. Genius." Clara rolled her eyes. She had spotted a second Missing poster on the same lamp. There was a third on the other side.

"Doctor!" Finally, she had his attention. "Look at this." He looked at the posters, furrowing his eyebrows.

"What's taking them, do you think? Snatching children from a thoroughly ordinary street like this." He murmured. Clara shivered. She was freezing! "Why's it so cold? Is someone reducing the temperature?"

"It says they all went missing this week," Clara commented, reading the posters. "Why would a person do something like this? How could you just take a kid?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her.

"What makes you think it's a person?" Clara bit her lip, looking around the street. There was no one but some road construction workers out.

"Whatever it is, it's got the whole street scared to death." Clara looked back at the Doctor to see that he had run off, running to a front lawn. He inspected the goal on the lawn. "What are you doing?" She asked, jogging over to him.

Just then, a car driving down the road stopped. One of the road workers went over to help.

"Fifth today. Not natural, is it?" The worker said, helping the driver out of the car so they could push it. The driver shook his head.

"I don't know what happened, I had it serviced less than a month ago."

"Nah, don't even try and explain it, mate. All the cars are doing it. And do you know what? It's bonkers. Bonkers. Come on then, pal. I'll help you shift it. Quicker you're on the way, happier you'll be." They began pushing it, with little success. Clara watched them, then looked at the Doctor. He was in his own little world, so Clara walked over to the two men.

"Do you want a hand?" She offered.

"No, we're all right, love." The worker said, groaning from the effort to push the car. Clara shook her head.

"You're not. I'm tougher than I look, honest." Without letting either of them protest, Clara began pushing the car as well. Just as she did, the engine roared back to life. The worker, in surprise, fell over. Clara helped him back up as the driver hopped into his car and drove off.

"Does this happen a lot?" Clara asked, wiping her hands on her jeans. The worker shrugged.

"Been doing it all week." Clara raised her eyebrows, connecting the dots.

"Since those children started going missing?"

"Yeah, I suppose so." The worker went back to his work and Clara looked over at the Doctor, who was still inspecting the goal. A man had come out of the house that the goal was in front of.

"What's your game?" He asked the Doctor suspiciously. The Doctor looked confused.

"Snakes and Ladders?" He guessed. "Quite good at squash. Reasonable. I'm being facetious, aren't I? There's no call for it."

"Every car cuts out." The worker told Clara from his spot. "The council are going nuts. I mean, they've given this street the works. Renamed it. I've been tarmacking every pot hole. Look at that. Beauty, init? Yeah! And all that is because that Olympic Torch comes right by the end of this Close. Just down there. Everything's got to be perfect, ain't it? Only it ain't." A female worker stopped what she was doing at turned her attention to Clara.

"It takes them when they're playing.," she confided quietly. Clara walked closer, interested.

"What takes them?" She asked, arms crossed. The woman shrugged.

"Danny, Jane, Dale. Snatched in the blink of an eye."

Clara took that in, when suddenly everyone was arguing. The Doctor was trying to convince everyone that he and Clara were police officers, then they were being blamed for what's happened. The man that had been talking to the Doctor was getting angry. It was clear that he was in denial about what was happening.

"Look, kids run off sometimes, all right?" He insisted. "That's what they do." The woman worker shook her head firmly.

"Saw it with me own eyes." She said. "Dale Hicks in your garden, playing with your Tommy, and then pfft! Right in front of me, like he was never there. There's no need to look any further than this street. It's right here amongst us."

"Why don't we-" the Doctor began, only to be cut off by some woman.

"Why don't we start with him?" She pointed to the worker that Clara had helped. "There's been all sorts like him in this street, day and night." He looked offended.

"Fixing things up for the Olympics." He told her. The man with the goal in his yard snorted.

"Yea, and taking an awful long time about it.," he muttered. Pretty soon, everyone except the Doctor and Clara were yelling back and forth. Finally, the Doctor had had it. He pressed his finger against his lips.

"Fingers on lips!" He yelled. He eyed everyone, even Clara, until everyone had their index finger on their lips. "In the last six days, three of your children have been stolen. Snatched out of thin air, right?" The female worker moved her finger from her lips slowly.

"Er, can I?" She raised her finger, awkwardly indicating that she wanted to speak. The Doctor nodded and she gestured to the neighborhood. "Look around you. This was a safe street till it came. It's not a person. I'll say it if no one else will. Maybe you're coppers, maybe you're not. I don't care who you are. Can you please help us?"

Clara, a bit distracted, noticed a young girl peering down at them from a window. She watched her until the girl left. By then, the people had gone and the Doctor was- strangely enough- sniffing around the house with the goal.

"Want a hanky?" She offered dryly. The Doctor stopped sniffing, standing straight. He looked at her.

"Can you smell it?" She inhaled deeply through her nose. "What does it remind you of?" Clara scrunched her nose, trying to place the smell.

"Sort of metal?" She guessed. The Doctor nodded. "Oh." Clara had smelled that before.

The next thing she knew, they were walking between two lots of back gardens. Both were sniffing, searching for the smell.

"Danny Edwards cycled in one end but never came out the other." The Doctor told her. His eyes widened. "Whoa, there it goes again! Look at the hairs on the back of my manly hairy hand." Clara ignored that comment because she smelled it.

"And there's that smell. It's like a er, a burnt fuse plug or something." The Doctor nodded.

"There's a residual energy in the spots where the kids vanished. Whatever it was, it used an awful lot of power to do this." Clara bit her lip.

What was happening?

* * *

**A/N: **Does this chapter make sense? I feel like parts of it don't make sense, especially since I skipped a bit of the dialogue. Then again, I never really liked this episode. I'm only writing it since I already skipped The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit and Love and Monsters. Otherwise, I would have skipped this one.

Let me know what you thought in a review!


	20. Fear Her, Part Two

Fear Her, Part Two

"Aren't you a beautiful boy?" Clara cooed. She was kneeling next to a ginger cat, who was sitting calmly on the curb of the street. Clara had always loved cats and was scratching behind his ears.

"Thanks!" The Doctor said behind her. "I'm experimenting with back combing. Oh." Clara didn't pay him any attention, scooping the cat into her arms and cuddling him. He mewed softly.

"I always wanted a kitty like you, but my dad's allergic." She told the cat, who pawed at her face cutely. She glanced back at the Doctor, noticing the unhappy look on his face. "What?"

He kept the dirty look on his face as he glowered at the cat in Clara's arms. "I'm not really a cat person." He told her, slipping his hands into his pockets. Clara noticed that he had his hands in fists. "Once you've been threatened by one in a nun's wimple, it kind of takes the joy out of it." Clara raised her eyebrows, standing up. She kept the cat in her arms.

"Are you jealous?" She asked teasingly. The Doctor didn't say anything. "You're jealous of a cat."

"No, I'm not," the Doctor insisted, obviously lying. Clara giggled, going onto her tiptoes to give him a soft peck on the lips.

"You don't need t be jealous, you know." She whispered. He leaned down, capturing her lips again. Clara smiled in the kiss. After half a minute or so of kissing, the cat wriggled out of Clara's arms. Clara pulled away to see where the cat had gone. She did a little circle where she stood, spotting the cat's tail swishing inside a cardboard box.

"Come here, kitty. What do you want to go in there for?" She walked closer to the box, peeking inside. The cat wasn't there anymore. It had disappeared.

"Doctor, the cat's gone. Just vanished." Clara reported, then she got a whiff of the metallic smell. "Phew!" It was even stronger than it had been in the alley.

"Whoa! Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo." The Doctor had pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the area. "Ion residue. Blimey! That takes some doing. Just to snatch a living organism out of space-time. This baby is just like, I'm having some of that. I'm impressed." He babbled, looking at the reading from the screwdriver. Clara tucked her hair behind her ears, eyebrows knit together.

"So the cat's been transported?" She asked, trying to simplify what the Doctor was saying. He nodded, eyes meeting hers.

"It can harness huge reserves of ionic power," he said. "We need to find the source of that power. Find the source and you will find whatever has taken to stealing children and fluffy animals. See what you can see. Keep them peeled, Lewis." He grabbed her hand and they were off.

"Don't call me Lewis," Clara said, smacking him lightly on the arm as they walked.

Lalala

Clara and the Doctor had decided to split up as they searched the neighborhood for whatever was taking things. Clara was convinced that they weren't going to find anything; there were no leads!

Clara was walking down the street when she heard an odd noise coming from a garage. Clara moved closer, listening to the noise.

"Is that you, kitty cat?" She called soothingly. "Are you trapped?" The noise grew louder and some clanging thumps made Clara jump. When Clara made it to the door of the garage, she stopped. She shook her head.

"Not going to open it, not going to open it, not going to open it," she repeated, eyes closed as she tried to talk herself out of it. Her curiosity got the best of her, though, and she tried the doorknob. The door was unlocked. Clara pushed the door open slowly. Her eyes widened and she shrieked.

A giant ball that looked like someone's scribbles came tumbling at her, knocking her down. Her head, which still hurt from the TARDIS landing, smacked hard on the pavement. She blearily opened her eyes as she held her head. She saw the Doctor come running, sonic screwdriver pointed at the scribble ball.

"Stay still!" He shouted, pressing the button on the screwdriver. The ball seemed to shiver before it shrunk into a small ball of scribbles that could fit in Clara's hand. She sat up slowly and plucked the ball from the ground.

"You alright?" The Doctor asked, kneeling next to her. She smiled a little, still rubbing her head.

"Yeah, cheers." She muttered. "Thanks." The Doctor grinned and help Clara to her feet.

"No probs." He nodded to the ball in her hand. "I'll give you a fiver if you can tell me what the hell it is, because I haven't got the foggiest." Clara examined it then shrugged.

"Well, I can tell you you've just killed it." Ever since she picked it up, it hadn't moved. The Doctor shook his head, sonicing it again.

"It was never living. It's animated by energy. Same energy that's snatching people." He said as he read the information from the screwdriver. "That is so dinky! The go anywhere creature. Fits in your pocket, makes friends, impresses the boss, breaks the ice at parties." He grinned at her, tongue between his teeth, and she just smiled, shaking her head at him.

They walked over to the curb and sat down. Clara handed the Doctor the ball of scribbles. He took it gingerly. He soniced it yet again, longer this time. He read what the screwdriver had found, eyes squinted.

"Oh, hi ho, here we go. Let's have a look." He muttered. After a second of reading, his eyes widened. "Get out of here." Clara scooted closer, peering at the screwdriver. As usual, she couldn't read whatever it said.

"What's it say?" She asked, looking back and forth from the screwdriver to the Doctor. Not answering her right away, the Doctor pulled a pencil from his pocket and rubbed the eraser on the ball. A bit of the ball disappeared.

"It's graphite," he mumbled. "Basically the same material as an HB pencil."

"I was attacked by a pencil scribble?" Clara asked. She scoffed. "How pathetic." The Doctor tilted his head, erasing a bit more of the scribble ball.

"Scribble creature, brought into being with ionic energy. Whatever we're dealing with, it can create things as well as take them. But why make a scribble creature?" Clara bit her lip as she thought about it.

"Maybe it was a mistake," she suggested. He looked at her curiously. "I mean, you scribble over something when you want to get rid of it- like a drawing. Like a- a child's drawing. You said it was in the street." The Doctor nodded.

"Probably." Clara remembered something.

"The girl." She breathed. The Doctor nodded exaggeratedly.

"Of course!" He paused. "What girl?" Clara ignored him, thinking more about the girl she had seen in the window.

"Something about her gave me the creeps," she muttered. "Even her own mum looked scared of her." The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her.

"Are you deducting?" He asked her, a smile in his voice. A smile grew on both of their faces.

"I think I am." He held his hand out to her and she took it. He pulled her to her feet.

"Copper's hunch?" He asked. She nodded carefully, head still pounding.

"Permission to follow it up, Sarge?"

Lalala

Clara and the Doctor were on the doorstep of the house that Clara had seen the girl at. The Doctor gestured, allowing Clara to be the one to ring the doorbell. Clara smiled, pressing the button happily. After a second, the Doctor rattled the letter box as they waited. A minute later, a woman answered the door.

"Hello," the Doctor greeted personably. "I'm the Doctor and this is Clara. Can we see your daughter?" The woman's mouth set, her eyes steely.

"No, you can't." She snapped. The Doctor shrugged, pulling Clara away a little.

"Okay. Bye." They were halfway down the lawn when the woman called to them.

"Why? Why do you want to see Chloe?" She asked. Clara could hear how scared she seemed. She and the Doctor turned back.

"Well, there's some interesting stuff going on in this street, and I just thought. Well, we thought, that she might like to give us a hand." The Doctor responded innocently.

"Sorry to bother you." Clara said, waving slightly.

"Yeah, sorry. We'll let you get on with things," the Doctor said. "On your own. Bye again." They turned away again. They had only taken one step when the woman called out to them again.

"Wait!" She cried. "Can you help her?" The Doctor, even from that distance, met her eyes. He nodded.

"Yes, I can."

Lalala

The Doctor and Clara sat on the couch in the living room. Trish, the woman had introduced herself when they had gone inside, sat in a chair that faced them. She wrung her hands together, looking very nervous.

"She stays in her room most of the time," Trish told them, speaking of her daughter, Chloe. "I try talking to her, but it's like trying to speak to a brick wall. She gives me nothing, just asks to be left alone."

"What about Chloe's dad?" Clara asked gently.

"Chloe's dad died a year ago." She said shortly.

"I'm sorry," Clara said kindly. "I know what that's like."

"You wouldn't be sorry if you'd known him." Trish snorted. The Doctor stood, clapping his hands together.

"Well, let's go and say hi." Clara stood as well.

"I should check on her first." Trish blurted, jumping up quickly. "She might be asleep."

"Why are you afraid of her, Trish?" Clara asked carefully. Trish seemed to fight with herself for a moment before answering.

"I want you to know before you see her that's she's really a great kid." She said.

"I'm sure she is." The Doctor assured her. She gave a half smile.

"She's never been in trouble at school you should see her report from last year. A's and B's." Trish went on.

"Can I use your bathroom?" Clara asked. Trish ignored her.

"She's in the choir. She's singing in an old folks home. Any mum would be proud. You know I want you to know these things before you see her, Doctor, because right now, she's not herself."

Clara made her way upstairs. She heard Chloe coming and hid behind a door. Ironically, she was in the bathroom. She peeked through the crack between the door and the wall as she watched Chloe walk past, heading downstairs. When she was gone, Clara sneaked into Chloe's room. Her eyes widened when she saw the amount of drawings taped to her wall. Those pictures included drawings of the missing kids and the cat.

A noise from Chloe's closet caused Clara to jump. She knocked over a jar of colored pencils and she hastily picked them up. When she set the jar back where it was, she noticed that one of the pictures- one of the ones she had looked at- had changed. The boy that had been smiling was now scowling.

The door to the closet rattled loudly once more, and Clara's attention was pulled from the picture. She approached the closet cautiously and opened the folding doors. The closet appeared normal.

She pushed the clothes back and saw a giant picture of a bearded, yellow eyed man. A huge gust of wind blew, Clara's hair flying backwards.

"I'm coming!" The picture yelled menacingly.

"Doctor!" Clara cried.

* * *

**A/N: **Yet another chapter completed! I hope you like it- I actually liked writing this one. Just so you know, I think this episode will have four chapters instead of the usual three. This episode is just so Rose centric, you know? So that means it has so much more for Clara.

Also, I would really love it if this story could get to 100 reviews. That's my goal, and I would love it if you could help me achieve it. So, leave a review and tell me if you liked the chapter!

Until next time, sweeties!


	21. Fear Her, Part Three

Fear Her, Part Three

"Doctor!" Clara screamed, even though she heard footsteps pounding up the stairs. The Doctor ran in, flew past her, and slammed the doors shut as the picture yelled in a loud, booming voice, "I'm coming to hurt you!"

"Look at it," Clara said, pointing at the now closed closet doors. The Doctor shook his head.

"Not a good idea." He made his way to the wall, looking at all of Chloe's other pictures.

"What the hell was that?" Trish demanded breathlessly. Clara bit her lip, heart pounding.

"A drawing," she told the three of them. "The face of a man."

"What face?" Trish reached for the closet door, but Clara grabbed her arm, holding tight.

"Best not." She said seriously. Trish ripped her arm from Clara's grasp. She turned to look at her daughter.

"What've you been drawing?" Chloe, not expression on her face, looked up at her mother.

"I'm drew him yesterday." Trish raised her eyebrows.

"Who?"

"Dad." Trish's face paled.

"Your dad? But he's long gone. Chloe, with all the lovely things in the world, why him?" Trish bent down to Chloe's level. Chloe shrugged.

"I dream about him, staring at me." Trish put her hand on Chloe's cheek lovingly, but hesitated while doing so. Clara could clearly see how scared Trish was of her child.

"I thought we were putting him behind us." She paused before adding gently, "What's the matter with you?"

"We need to stay together." Trish nodded, smiling.

"Yes, we do." She made to hug Chloe, but Chloe stepped back, shaking her head.

"No. Not you, us. We need to stay together, and then it'll be all right."

"Trish, the drawings." Clara said suddenly, half pointing to Chloe's wall of drawings. "Have you seen what Chloe's drawings can do?" Trish whipped around, glaring at Clara.

"Who gave you permission to come into her room?" She demanded. "Get out of my house." Clara took an involuntary step back, a little frightened at the ferocity in Trish's voice.

"Tell us about the drawings, Chloe." The Doctor said, holding Clara's hand. Chloe didn't say anything.

"I don't want to hear any more of this." Trish said, waving her hands dismissively. Clara shook her head.

"But that drawing of her dad. I heard a voice. He spoke." Clara insisted. Trish was clearly getting angry.

"He's dead. And these, they're kid's pictures." She pointed to the door. "Now get out!"

"Chloe has a power. And I don't know how, but she used it to take Danny Edwards, Dale Hicks. She's using it to snatch the kids." Clara said, desperate for not only Trish to understand, but the Doctor as well. Trish kept pointing to the door.

"Get out!" She repeated. Clara placed her hands on her waist.

"Have you seen those drawings move?" She asked. Trish looked uncomfortable and nervous when she asked.

"I haven't seen anything." She answered quickly. The Doctor slipped his free hand into his pocket, leaning his head back. His face was completely serious.

"Yes, you have, out of the corner of your eye." Trish shook her head furiously, denying it. "And you dismissed it, because what choice do you have when you see something you can't possibly explain? You dismiss it, right? And if anyone mentions it, you get angry, so it's never spoken of, ever again." Trish looked defeated, desperate.

"She's a child." She said weakly.

"You're terrified of her. But there's nowhere to turn to, because who's going to believe the things you see out of the corner of your eye? No one. Except me." Tears sprung into Trish's eyes.

"Who are you?"

"We're help." Clara answered firmly.

Lalala

In the kitchen, Clara sat at the table while the Doctor milled around. Both were wrapped up in their own thoughts. Something was eating at Clara. She cleared her throat to get the Doctor's attention.

"Those pictures," she began when she knew he was listening to her. "They're alive. She's drawing people and they end up in her pictures." Wordlessly, she asked for an explanation.

"Ionic energy. Chloe's harnessing it to steal those kids and place them in some kind of holding pen made up of ionic power." He replied. Clara was quiet, processing everything he said.

"And what about the dad from hell in her wardrobe?" She asked. Trish, entering the kitchen, made an exasperated sound.

"How many times do I have to tell you, he's dead." She insisted. Clara raised her eyebrows, sitting back in the chair.

"Well, he's got a very loud voice for a dead bloke." She muttered, picking at her fingernails.

"If living things can become drawings, then maybe drawings can become living things." The Doctor suggested. "Chloe's real dad is dead, but not the one who visits her in her nightmares. That dad seems very real. That's the dad she's drawn and he's a heartbeat away from crashing into this world."

Trish bit her lip, looking very troubled.

"She always got the worst of it when he was alive," she admitted, voice breaking as she spoke. Clara stood, placing a comforting hand on Trish's shoulder.

"Doctor, how can a twelve year old girl be doing any of this?" Clara asked, rubbing Trish's back. The Doctor placed the jar had had been toying with down on the counter.

"Let's find out." The Doctor suggested. He lead the way as they walked back up to Chloe's bedrooom. Trish walked ahead of them, knocking softly on the door before opening it for them to enter. Chloe did the Vulcan salute when she saw the Doctor. He smiled.

"Nice one." He walked over to her and placed three fingers on her temple. Chloe's eyes rolled into the back of her head. Gently, the Doctor laid her back. "There we go."

"I can't let him do this," Trish protested, obviously distressed. Clara put her hand on Trish's arm, comforting while also holding her in place.

"Sh, it's okay." She said softly. "Trust him."

"Now we can talk." The Doctor announced.

"I want Chloe," Chloe, still knocked out, moaned. "Wake her up. I want Chloe."

"Who are you?" The Doctor asked,

"I want Chloe Webber." Chloe repeated. Trish stepped forward, towing Clara with her.

"What've you done to my little girl?" She demanded. Clara looked from Chloe to the Doctor.

"Doctor, what is it?" She asked. The Doctor ignored her.

"I'm speaking to you, the entity that is using this human child. I request parley in compliance with the Shadow Proclamation." He said. Chloe- or rather, the thing using Chloe's body- shook her head.

"I don't care about shadows or parleys." She replied defiantly.

"So what do you care about?" The Doctor asked. The thing inside Chloe whimpered.

"I want my friends."

"You're lonely, I know." The Doctor told her kindly. "Identify yourself." The thing inside Chloe paused a moment before speaking.

"I am one of many. I travel with my brothers and sisters. We take an endless journey. A thousand of your lifetimes. But now I am alone. I hate it. It's not fair, and I hate it." The Doctor was getting impatient.

"Name yourself!" He repeated fiercely.

"Isolus." The Doctor's eyes widened.

"You're Isolus." He stated. "Of course."

"Our journey began in the Deep Realms when we were a family." The Isolus told them, drawing rapidly as she spoke.

"What's that?" Trish asked.

"The Isolus Mother, drifting in deep space. See, she jettisons millions of fledgling spores. Her children. The Isolus are empathic beings of intense emotions, but when they're cast off from their mother, their empathic link, their need for each other, is what sustains them. They need to be together. They cannot be alone." The Doctor explained.

"Our journey is long," the Isolus agreed.

"The Isolus children travel, each inside a pod. They ride the heat and energy of solar tides. It takes thousands and thousands of years for them to grow up."

"Thousands of years just floating through space," Clara said sadly. "Poor things. Don't they go mad with boredom?" The Isolus smiled with Chloe's face.

"We play." She told Clara.

"You play?" Clara repeated. The Isolus smiled.

"While they travel, they play games. They use their ionic power to literally create make believe worlds in which to play."

"In flight entertainment." Clara murmured.

"Helps keep them happy. While they're happy, they can feed off each others love. Without it, they're lost." He had been speaking to Trish and Clara. Now, he turned back to Chloe's body. "Why did you come to Earth?" The Isolus scrunched up Chloe's face, looking pained.

"We were too close." She muttered. The Doctor looked down at the picture the Isolus was drawing, and understood.

"That's a solar flare from your sun." He said, pointing to the picture. "Would have made a tidal wave of solar energy that scattered the Isolus pods."

"Only I fell to Earth. My brothers and sisters are left up there, and I cannot reach them." The Isolus muttered. "So alone."

"Your pod crashed," the Doctor stated. "Where is it?"

"My pod was drawn to heat, and I was drawn to Chloe Webber." The Isolus explained. "She was like me, alone. She needed me, and I her." The Doctor's face softened.

"You empathized with her." He said. "You wanted to be with her because she was alone like you." The Isolus whimpered.

"I want my family. It's not fair." The Doctor sat at the edge of Chloe's bed, petting her head affectionately.

"I understand," he murmured. "You want to make a family. But you can't stay in this child. It's wrong. You can't steal any more friends for yourself."

"I am alone." The Isolus repeated. There was a crash from the closet, and everyone's head snapped to look at it. The closet glowed red and the door shook wildly. Clara looked down at Chloe and saw that she was shaking as well.

"I'm coming to hurt you.," Chloe's dad's voice shook the whole house. "I'm coming."

"Trish, how do you calm her?" The Doctor asked quickly.

"What?" Trish asked, confused.

"When she has nightmares, what do you do?" The Doctor prompted.

"I sing to her." Trish answered, looking back at the closet. Chloe's dad kept repeating, "I'm coming." Fear painted Trish's face.

"Then start singing." The Doctor commanded. Clara didn't think Trish was going to be able to do it.

"Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree." Clara started singing, sitting on the bed as well. She pet Chloe's hair the same way she used to pet Angie's hair when she had nightmares. The same way Clara's mum used to pet her hair when she had nightmares. "Merry, merry king of the bush is he."

"Chloe. Chloe. Chloe. Chloe." Chloe's dad was trying to drown out Clara's sining, so she sang louder. Trish weakly joined in.

"Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra, gay your life must be. Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra, gay your life must be." After a minute or so, Chloe stopped shaking and the closet fell silent. Trish, teary eyed, kissed her daughter on the forehead.

"It came to her because she was lonely." Her voice made it evident that she was about to cry. "Chloe, I'm sorry."

After a moment, they began collecting all of Chloe's colored pencils. It was the only way they could keep her from drawing.

"Chloe usually got the brunt of his temper when he'd had a drink." Trish told them as they worked. "The day he crashed the car, I thought we were free. I thought it was over."

"Did you talk to her about it?" Clara asked kindly. Trish shook her head.

"I didn't want to."

"But maybe that's why Chloe feels so alone. Because she has all these terrible dreams about her dad, but she can't talk to you about them." Clara said. The Doctor nodded.

"Her and the Isolus. Two lonely kids who need each other." Clara bit her lip, eyebrows furrowed.

"And it won't stop, will it, Doctor? It'll just keep pulling kids in."

"It's desperate to be loved. It's used to a pretty big family." The Doctor said. Clara hesitated to ask, but felt that she needed to know.

"How big?" The Doctor looked grim.

"Say around four billion?"

Lalala

"We need that pod." The Doctor stated as he and Clara went outside onto the road. Clara shook her head, looking up at him.

"It crashed. Won't it be destroyed?"

"Well, it's been sucking in all the heat it can. Hopefully that should keep it in a fit state to launch. It must be close. It should have a weak energy signature that the TARDIS can trace. Once we find it, then we can stop the Isolus." He walked off, searching for the pod. Clara looked up and saw Chloe watching them from her window.

They were in the TARDIS after a minute and the Doctor hurried to use it to find the pod. It wasn't long before something appeared on the screen.

"It's in the street!" The Doctor exclaimed. He grabbed Clara's hand and dragged her outside. They were running down the street, looking for the pod.

"It's about two inches across. Dull grey, like a gull's egg. Very light." The Doctor described as they looked. Clara nodded, squinting as she looked.

"These pods need heat, though, to travel." She said. "It's not about the Isolus's loneliness, or love, or anything." She was going somewhere with that, but was cut off when she heard something fall to the ground. She turned and saw that the gizmo the Doctor had been using to look for the pod on the cement. The Doctor was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the TARDIS.

"Doctor!" Clara cried. She knew, deep down, where he was.

Chloe had taken him.

* * *

**A/N: **This one's a long one! Both the chapter and the episode. One more chapter and the episode'll be done. I hope you like it and I hope you review and let me know what you think!

Until next time!


	22. Fear Her, Part Four

Fear Her, Part Four

Clara pounded on Trish's door, furious. Trish opened the door, surprised to see her, especially so angry.

"It's alright. I've taken all of her pencils," Trish told her. Clara pushed past her and stormed up the steps. Clara slammed the door open, running over to Chloe sitting on her bed. Clara snatched the drawing out of her hand, seeing it was the picture of the Doctor and the TARDIS.

"Leave me alone!" The Isolus cried. "I want to be with Chloe Webber. I love Chloe Webber!"

Clara shook the the picture in Chloe's face. "Bring him back, now."

"No." The Isolus sneered. Clara yelled, exasperated.

"Don't you realize what you've done?" Clara asked, clutching the drawing tightly. "He was the only one who could help you. Now bring him back!" Chloe closed her eyes.

"Leave me alone! I love Chloe Webber!" The Isolus repeated.

"And I love the Doctor! And you took him! Now, give. Him. Back." Clara's pleas were drowned out by the Isolus repeatedly saying that she loves Chloe. Tears in her eyes, Clara looked down at the picture. "Doctor, if you can hear me, I'm going to get you out of there. I'll find the pod."

Clara turned to the doorway, where she knew Trish was.

"Don't leave her alone, no matter what." With that, Clara ran outside. She looked around, at a loss about where to look. She spotted the construction worker and ran over to him. For the first time, she glanced at his name tag, which read "Kel". Kel was admiring his latest tarmac patch. Clara eyed it curiously.

"Heat," she murmured. "They travel on heat." Kel didn't hear her.

"Look at this finish." He crowed. "Smooth as a baby's bottom. Not a bump or a lump."

"Kel, was there anything in this street in the last few days giving off a lot of heat?" Clara asked. Kel still didn't hear her.

"I mean, you can eat your dinner off this. Beautiful." Kel said. He shook his head. "So you tell me why the other one's got a lump in it when I gave it the same love and craftsmanship as I did this one." Clara patted him on the shoulder, trying to get him to pay attention to her.

"Well, when you've worked it out, put it in a big book about tarmacking. But before you do that, think back six days." Kel looked at her, able to see on her face how important it was.

"Six days," he said slowly. "When I was laying this the first time round." Clara's eyes widened.

"What?"

"Well, that's when I filled in this pothole for the first time." He said, pointing to the tarmac with the lump.

"Six days ago." Clara repeated. Kel nodded. "Hot fresh tar."

"Blended to a secret council recipe." Kel told her. Clara wasn't listening, though. She was running to Kel's van. "I don't keep it in the van! Hey, that's a council van. Out." He grabbed her elbow, tugging gently to get her out. She let him pull her away from the van, since she had a pick axe in her left hand. Kel's eyes widened when he saw it.

"Whoa, wait, wait, wait." He pointed at her. "You just removed a council axe from a council van. Put it back." Clara didn't listen. She made her way to the tarmac. "No, don't, wait. Put the axe back in the van. That's my van. Give me the axe. No! Wait! No!" He sounded pained as Clara brought the pick axe down on the tar. She began chipping at it relentlessly.

"No! You, stop! You just took a council axe from a council van and now you're digging up a council road! I'm reporting you to the council!" Clara spotted something clear and small in the hole she had created. She fell to her knees, picking it up. She cradled it.

"It went for the hottest thing in the street." She grinned. "Your tar."

"What is it?" Kel asked, now more interested in the pod than in Clara destroying his tarmac.

"It's a spaceship." She told him. Half a grin on her face, she added, "Not a council spaceship, I'm afraid." With that, she ran back into Trish's house, Kel on her heels.

"I've found it! I don't know what to do with it, but maybe the Isolus will just hop on board." Clara told Trish excitedly, who was sitting in the living room and watching TV. Then, she remembered something. "Hang on, I told you not to leave her."

"My God! Er, what's going on here?" The TV caught Clara's attention and she didn't hear Trish's response. The camera panned to the stadium where the Olympics were taking place. There was no audience. They were all gone. Vaguely, Clara heard Kel enter the living room.

"I don't care if you've got Snow White and the Seven Dwarves buried under there, you don't go digging up-" he shouted. Clara waved a hand at him, cutting him off.

"Shut up and look!" She shouted, pointing to the TV.

"The crowd has vanished! Er, they're gone. Everyone has gone. Thousands of people have just gone. Right in front of my eyes. It's impossible. Bob, can we join you in the box? Bob? Not you too, Bob?" The announcer babbled. Clara shook her head.

"The stadium won't be enough. The Isolus has four billion brothers and sisters." Clara stated. She bolted up the stairs and to Chloe's door, which was barricaded from the inside. She banged her hand on it.

"I've got your ship! You can go find your brothers and sisters!" She hollered. Trish knocked on the door.

"Chloe?" She tried. Clara took a step back from the door, pulling Trish back with her. Clara, using the pick axe, created a large hole in Chloe's door. She used her arm to push the chair Chloe had used away and open the door. They stumbled into the room.

"I'm coming to hurt you." Chloe's dad boomed from the closet, the doors shaking. He kept repeating himself.

"Chloe!" Clara ran over to Chloe, who was drawing furiously. She reached for Chloe's arms.

"If you stop Chloe Webber, I will let him out." The Isolus announced, pointing to the closet with one hand while drawing with the other. "We will let him out together. I cannot be alone. It's not fair."

Clara held out the small spaceship. "Look, I've got your pod." Chloe shook her head.

"The pod is dead."

"It only needs heat." Clara insisted. Chloe momentarily stopped drawing to give Clara a dirty look.

"It needs more than heat." Clara let out an exasperated cry.

"What, then?" Clara heard a yelp and turned to see Kel in Chloe's bedroom.

"I'm not being funny or nothing, but that picture just moved." He pointed to a random drawing. "And that one!" Clara had seen it move, as well. The drawing of the Doctor had changed. He was pointing to an Olympic torch.

"She didn't draw that, he did." Clara whispered. She groaned. "But it needs more than heat, Doctor."

The announcer's voice from the TV seemed to resonate throughout the house.

"-is still on its way. I suppose it's much more than a torch now, it's a beacon. It's a beacon of hope and fortitude and courage. And it's a beacon of love."

"Love." Clara breathed, almost dropping the pod with realization.

"So let's have a look from the helicopter. There we go, the torch bearer running-" A grin grew on Clara's face.

"I know how to charge up the pod." Clara ran out of the house once more, just as the announcer concluded, "past Dame Kelly Holmes Close." There was a large crowd lining the street, ready to watch the torch bearer run past. Clara did her best to push forward, but ran into the tape keeping the crowd in check.

"I have to get closer!" Clara cried, trying to duck under the tape. A policeman stopped her.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to watch it from there." He told her.

"No, you don't understand!" Clara yelled. Her voice wasn't heard, though, as the crowd grew even louder. The torch bearer was coming up the road. The pod was vibrating in Clara's hand.

"You feel it, don't you?" Clara asked kindly. "You feel the love." The torch bearer grew nearer, and Clara knew there was only one option. She gave the pod a quick kiss and threw it with all of her might, watching it as it landed right in the middle of the torch. The torch bearer staggered a moment, but continued on.

"Yes!" Clara screamed, jumping in the air with glee. She turned and hugged a random bystander, screaming still. All around her, she saw the missing kids return. She looked for the Doctor, but couldn't find him.

"Clara, did you fix everything?" Kel asked, walking down Trish's steps.

"Have you seen the Doctor?" Clara asked. Kel shook his head. Clara pouted, not sure what to do, when she noticed a red glow coming from Chloe's room. "Oh no." Again, she ran into the house and up the stairs.

Chloe's door, despite the hole in it, wouldn't open. Chloe's dad's voice was louder than ever, his threats terrifying.

"Help!" Chloe and Trish yelled. Clara pounded on the door.

"I can't!" She answered. "I can't get in. You have to do it yourselves."

"And how do we do that?!" Trish exclaimed, trying to calm her daughter down.

"It's just a nightmare; that's all it is!" Clara replied. "Treat it like a normal nightmare. Sing it away!"

"Merry merry king of the bush is he..." Clara prompted. "Come on, sing!"

"Laugh, Kookaburra laugh..." Trish began, her voice shaky.

"You too, Chloe! Sing!" Clara yelled over Chloe's dad's voice. The two started singing together, and slowly the red light faded away along with Chloe's dad's voice.

Lalala

Trish, Chloe, and Clara sat in Trish's living room, watching the torch bearer run. He stumbled and fell, the torch falling out of his hand. The announcer rambled about how the Olympic dream was dead, when a hand plucked the torch from the ground.

"Doctor!" Clara practically jumped out of her seat when she saw the Doctor carrying the torch the rest of the way.

Lalala

Clara smiled when she finally spotted the Doctor in the midst of the block party. His back was to her, so she ran over to him.

"Cake?" She asked, holding out a fairy cake with silver ball bearings on it. He swiveled, beaming like crazy at her. He took it from her, taking a large bite out of it.

"Top banana. Mmm. I can't stress this enough." He licked some of the icing, a ball bearing going with it. "Ball bearings you can eat, masterpiece!"

They walked down the street a little, quiet as the Doctor ate his cake. When he finished, she grabbed him by the trench coat and kissed him hard.

"I thought I'd lost you." She admitted. He pecked her on the lips again.

"Nah. Not on a night like this." He slipped his hand into hers, squeezing tightly. "This is a night for lost things being found. Come on." He pulled her down the road.

"What now?" Clara asked, leaning her head on his shoulder as they walked.

"I want to go to the Games. It's what we came for." Clara smiled, bumping her shoulder with his arm.

"Go on, give us a clue." She said flirtatiously. "Which events do we do well in?"

"Well, I will tell you this. Papua New Guinea surprises everyone in the shot put." Clara pulled her head back.

"Really? You're joking, aren't you?" She waited a moment, but he merely smiled at her. "Doctor, are you serious or are you joking?" He shook his head.

"Wait and see." The fireworks started and they looked up to watch them. They were quiet a moment, watching as the colors flared in the air.

"There's something in the air. Something's coming." The Doctor stated ominously. Clara looked up at him, worry washing over her at his words.

"What?" She asked softly. He looked down on her, his dark eyes full of fear.

"A storm's approaching."

* * *

**A/N: **Here's another chapter! You know, I'm very disappointed in all of you. I wanted to post this chapter days ago, but I only got TWO reviews on the last chapter! Come on, guys. I know you can do better than that. Usually, my minimum is three reviews before I'll post another chapter. That's not so much to ask, is it? Please review more!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time, lovelies.


	23. The TARDIS Gets in The Way

The TARDIS Gets in The Way

No matter what, that phrase rung in Clara's head._ A storm's approaching._What did that mean? Did she need to be worried? She didn't know. How could she? She wondered if the Doctor knew; she'd never ask him, though.

Clara was swimming in the pool, just doing laps as she thought. She dove underwater, staying under as long as she could before resurfacing. She swam for a while before the Doctor found her in there.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked. She smirked playfully at him, splashing the area next to her.

"Come on in," she invited flirtatiously. He grinned, ducking into the changing room to put on his swim trunks.

He made a huge splash when he jumped into the pool, causing Clara to giggle as she tried to shield herself from the water droplets. He chuckled as he swam over to her, kissing her lightly. Her fingers found his hair and she pulled him closer, kissing him hard. They had so few moments like this; she wanted to enjoy every second of it.

The Doctor's hands were at her waist when his lips found her neck. She smiled happily as he trailed kisses down her neck and shoulder.

Then, a cloister bell went off. Clara sighed, stepping away from the Doctor. He groaned, smiling apologetically as he climbed out of the pool. Something like this always happened. The TARDIS alarm would go off, or the TARDIS would just decide on her own to go somewhere. It was almost like the TARDIS was trying to keep the Doctor and Clara from being together.

Clara climbed out of the pool, sitting on the edge a moment.

"Why do you have to do this?" Clara asked the TARDIS. The TARDIS hummed sassily in response. Clara huffed, imagining a number of things that the TARDIS could have been saying. She pulled her legs out of the water and went to get changed.

Lalala

"What shall we do today?" The Doctor asked, dancing throughout the console room as Clara sat perched on the captain's chair, nose buried in a book. Some book written by a woman named Amelia Williams- Clara had read many of her books.

She shrugged, not really paying attention as she read. The Doctor stood behind the chair, arms around her shoulders and his chin on her head. He read alongside her.

They stayed like that for a while, until Clara's stomach growled loudly. Cheeks red, Clara slipped the bookmark in place.

"Can we get food?" She asked brightly, pretending that it hadn't happened. The Doctor beamed.

"Sure! Where to? Rome? Paris?" The Doctor proposed, bounding over to the console, hands poised to start flying.

"Um, how about somewhere new?" Clara asked, jumping up as well. "Some distant planet with really awesome food." Her nose was close to his and they were about to kiss when the TARDIS gave a huge jerk, tossing Clara on her butt.

"Ow," she mumbled, rubbing her tailbone as the Doctor helped her up.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into her lately." The Doctor told Clara, glaring up at the top of the TARDIS console.

"It's fine," Clara mumbled. "Let's just get food."

Lalala

Clara was getting sick of this. Literally, every time her and the Doctor tried to kiss or anything, the TARDIS found some way to screw it up. Ever since she and the Doctor had had that fight about the fob watch, the TARDIS seemed to hate her. At least, now she knew why the future TARDIS hated her. Apparently, the TARDIS had a long memory.

Clara was sitting at the table in the kitchen, sipping a mug of tea. She was grumpy, but still smiled when the Doctor bounced into the room, all smiles.

"What's with you today?" She asked as he made himself a cuppa, turning to watch him.

"I've got a brilliant idea!" The Doctor announced. "We're gonna go visit your family." Clara raised her eyebrows.

"I don't have much family." She informed him. "Just my dad. And Artie and Angie, if you count them." The Doctor, hold his hot cup gingerly, turned to face her. He leaned against the marble counter, sipping the hot liquid carefully.

"I'd still like to meet them." The Doctor said.

Clara had a bit of an inward panic. Artie and Angie had already met the Doctor, but the one in the future. They couldn't meet this one. Artie couldn't keep a secret to save his life, and Angie would use it as blackmail. Quickly, she came up with a plan.

"Okay. But, only my dad. I try to keep my personal life away from Artie and Angie." Clara explained, avoiding the Doctor's eyes. She settled on looking at his nose, hoping he'd think she was making eye contact.

He was quiet a moment, studying her. Finally, he smiled and said, "Okay! When should we land?" He grabbed her hand, setting his half drunk tea on the table with hers and dragged her to the console room. Clara shrugged, rattling off a day a few weeks before she ran off. The Doctor nodded, whacking the TARDIS console with a mallet to get it started.

The TARDIS jerked wildly, and off they went. Clara couldn't shake the feeling that this trip was going to change everything.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry this chapter is so short, but I have tech week going on for a show so I don't have much time to write. So, sorry about that. But, I promise that there will be no more short chapters like this.

You guys gave me nine reviews in, like, three days! Was that so hard? I love your reviews, so keep them coming!

Until next time :)


	24. Army of Ghosts, Part One

Army of Ghosts, Part One

Clara stepped out of the TARDIS first, having a look around to make sure they were in the right place. Satisfied that they were, she stepped to the side to let the Doctor out, as well. He bounced out, admiring his new surroundings.

"So, where's your dad's house?" He asked. Clara pointed.

"There. Come on." She took his hand and led him to the front door of the house. She unlocked the door, knocking as she opened it. "Dad? You home?" She called, poking her head in the house.

Her dad appeared in the doorway from the living room, beaming as he saw his daughter.

"Clara!" He cried, running over to hug her. She walked into the room, hugging him. "And who's this?" Clara turned to see that the Doctor had entered the house as well.

"Oh, Dad, this is the Doctor." Clara told him. "We're, um, together." Clara couldn't think of a better word to describe their relationship, so she went with that. She didn't feel like it fit right, though. Their relationship was more than just "together".

Clara's dad eyed the Doctor up and down, sticking his hand out to shake. "Doctor what?" He asked curiously. The Doctor shook his hand.

"Just the Doctor," the Doctor replied. Clara's dad raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.

"Well, come on in, then, Doctor!" He invited them into the living room, where he was watching football on TV. "My friend and her kid are coming over in a bit, if that's alright with you?" He asked Clara. She shrugged, inwardly panicking.

"A girlfriend?" She asked, trying and failing to sound casual. Her dad laughed, shaking his head.

"No, just a friend. She's not exactly my type." Clara shifted in her seat, uncomfortable about the topic of her dad dating. She knew it had been years since her mum died, but she still didn't like the idea of her dad with someone else. "She comes over for-"

The doorbell rang.

"That's them!" Clara's dad announced, changing the TV from football to the news.

"He seems nice," the Doctor said awkwardly once her dad left. "Don't think he likes me much, though." Clara shook her head.

"I don't believe him." She said. "I bet he's dating that woman." They heard footsteps enter the living room and turned. Four mouths dropped open when they saw each other.

Clara's dad's friend and her daughter were Jackie and Rose Tyler.

"Doctor!" Rose gasped. "Clara!" Rose ran over to them, hugging the Doctor. He hugged her back, smiling at Jackie over Rose's shoulder, though she wasn't looking at him with the kindest of looks.

"Oh my goodness," Clara breathed. "What a coincidence."

"What are you two doing here?" Jackie asked. Clara pointed to her dad.

"That's my dad. We're visiting." Rose checked her watch.

"You guys, we'd better get ready. Granddad Prentice and your Grandpa John will be here any minute." Rose stated. Just then, a ding went off in the kitchen.

"That's the casserole," Clara's dad announced. "Grandpa John's favorite. Jackie, Rose, give me a hand?" The two women nodded, following him into the kitchen. Clara turned to the Doctor eyes wide.

"I think they've gone mad." She confided quietly. "All three of them." The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Jackie, I'd believe. But Rose and your dad? Why would you say that?" He asked, clearly confused. Clara bit her lip.

"Grandpa John is my dad's grandfather. He died before I was born." She said. "And I'm pretty sure Rose mentioned that her Granddad Prentice died about ten years ago. They've all gone bonkers." Clara stood.

"Dad?" She called, walking into the living room. The Doctor followed at her heels. "Dad, what did Rose say about Grandpa John coming to visit? He died, remember?" Clara's dad nodded, waving an oven mitt over the steaming casserole.

"I remember clearly, Clara." He stated. "He was in a car crash with your great grandma, Clarice." Clara and the Doctor shared a worried look.

"So, how could he be coming to visit?" Clara asked. "Or Rose's Granddad Prentice? Didn't you say that his heart gave out ten years ago?" Rose nodded.

"Yea, it did." The TV in the living room played some sort of jingle that caused all three of them to brighten.

"They're almost here!" Jackie cried, excited. Just then, two gray, vaguely human shapes appeared in the living room. Jackie and Rose beamed at one, talking animately to it as if it was a person. Clara's dad pulled on her arm, pulling her to the other.

"Grandpa John, this is my daughter, Clara. Remember how I told you about here?" He asked. The Doctor grabbed Clara's wrist and they ran outside. Jackie, Rose, and Clara's dad followed.

"They're everywhere!" The Doctor exclaimed. It was true. Gray, human shapes littered the neighborhood, all exactly identical. Some walked around, but most stood still. Clara was shocked to see that no one was alarmed by them. Some chatted with the shapes, while others simply ignored them as they would ignore a stranger as they walked down the block. Clara's eyes widened when she noticed one of them walking straight towards the Doctor.

"Doctor, look out!" She said. Too late. The shape walked right through the Doctor, whose face made it clear that it was not a comfortable feeling.

"They haven't got long," Rose told the two of them. "Midday shift only lasts a couple of minutes. They're about to fade." The Doctor and Clara whipped around, facing the three standing on the porch.

"What do you mean, shift? Since when did ghosts have shifts? Since when did shifts have ghosts? What's going on?" The Doctor asked one question right after the other. Jackie snorted.

"Oh, he's not happy when I know more than him, is he?" She asked Rose, amused. Rose chuckled. The Doctor shook his head.

"But no one's running or screaming or freaking out." He said helplesly.

"Why should we?" Clara's dad asked. He checked his watch. "Here we go. Twelve minutes past." Just as he said that, all of the shapes disappeared.

"By the way, where's Mickey?" Rose asked, looking around for him. Guilt built up in Clara's stomach. She had forgotten that Rose didn't know that Mickey had stayed behind in the parallel world.

"Not important. I'll explain later." The Doctor said hastily. "We have more important things to discuss. Let's go inside, shall we?" He herded everyone inside. They all crowded in the living room. The Doctor sat between Rose and Clara, holding Clara's hand, while Clara's dad and Jackie sat in the chairs.

The TV was broadcasting a Ghost Watch Program. The announcer was speaking, and they were all listening.

"On today's Ghost Watch, claims that some of the ghosts are starting to talk, and there seems to be a regular formation gathering around Westminster Bridge. It's almost like a military display." The announcer stated. The Doctor half gaped at the television.

"What the hell's going on?" He asked. Clara shook her head; she had no clue. She changed the channel to the weather.

"And tonight we're expecting very strong ghosts from London, through the North and up into Scotland." The weatherman said. Clara changed the channel again.

"So basically, Eileen, what you're telling me is, that you are in love with a ghost." The talk show host, Trish something or other, repeated disbelievingly. Eileen nodded.

"He's my ghost, and I love him twenty four seven." Clara flicked through the channels faster and faster, unable to process what was on the screen.

"It's all over the world," the Doctor whispered. The Doctor took the remote and turned the TV off. "When did this start?"

"Oh. That was about two months ago. Just happened. Woke up one morning, and there they all were. Ghosts, everywhere." Jackie told them. "We all ran round screaming and that. Whole planet was panicking. No sign of you, thank you very much. Then it sort of sank in. It took us time to realize that we're lucky." Clara and the Doctor examined the three of them.

"What makes you think that they were Grandpa John and Granddad Prentice?" Clara asked. "They all look the same." Clara's dad shrugged.

"It just feels like him. There's that smell, those old cigarettes." He smiled. "Can't you smell it?" Clara shook her head.

"I wish I could, Dad, but I can't." Clara whispered. Jackie leaned forward, as if she was about to share a secret.

"You've got to make an effort. You've got to want it, sweetheart." She told her kindly. The Doctor sat back, as if he understood.

"The more you want it, the stronger it gets," he guessed. Rose, Jackie, and Clara's dad shared a look.

"Sort of, yeah." Rose admitted. The Doctor rubbed his jaw as he thought. Clara squeezed his hand.

"Do you know what's going on, Doctor?" She asked. He nodded.

"It's like a psychic link. Of course you want your old granddad to be alive, but you're wishing him into existence." He told Clara's dad, who huffed. "The ghosts are using that to pull themselves in." All three of them scowled.

"You're spoiling it," Clara's dad snapped.

"I'm sorry, sir, but there's no smell, there's no cigarettes. Just a memory." Rose was the only one of the three that seemed to accept this. Of course Rose would believe the Doctor. She had enough experience with the Doctor to know when he was right.

"But if they're not ghosts, what are they?" She asked slowly, looking at the Doctor. Jackie waved a hand at Rose, clearly upset.

"Yeah, but they're human! You can see them." She said. "They look human." Rose nodded.

"She's got a point. I mean, they're all sort of blurred, but they're definitely people."

The Doctor shrugged. "Maybe not. They're pressing themselves into the surface of the world. But a footprint doesn't look like a boot."

* * *

**A/N: **Yay! I made it to 100 reviews! Thank you guys soooo much. I'm so very happy, so thanks. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Leave a review and let me know what you think (keep it up with all the reviews! It's great).

Until next time, darlings.


	25. The Army of Ghosts, Part Two

Army of Ghosts, Part Two

Clara sat on the captain's chair in the console room, newspaper in hand. She flipped through while Rose stood next to her.

"According to the paper, they've elected a ghost as MP for Leeds." Clara called down to the Doctor, who was in some basement room under the console. Rose nodded.

"Yea, I saw that." She said. She scratched behind her ear, looking a little sheepish. "Thought it was a cool idea at the time."

Clara flipped the page, reading some more. "Now don't tell me you're going to sit back and do nothing." She shouted as she read. She looked up just in time to see the Doctor pop up from the opening in the floor. He had a backpack and a hose. He had a manic smile on his face, grinning like the Cheshire Cat at the two women.

"Who you going to call?" He asked playfully. Rose and Clara shared a look, matching smiles on their cheeks.

"Ghostbusters!" They cheered. Clara punched the air.

"I ain't afraid of no ghosts," the Doctor drawled. Clara giggled, taking his hand as he held it out. She jumped off the captain's chair, following him out of the TARDIS. They exited the TARDIS, Rose right behind them, to see a playground. A few kids were playing, but for the most part it was empty. Jackie was sitting on a bench right next to the box. Clara's dad had turned down accompanying them; he wasn't one for weird things. Clara had been a little disappointed- she had hoped to share this part of her life with him the same way she had shared it with Angie and Artie- but she understood. She knew how her dad was.

"When's the next shift?" The Doctor asked as Rose closed the door. He bent down, placing three metal cones linked by wires in the grass. Jackie checked her watch.

"Quarter to," she reported. "But don't go causing trouble. What's that lot do?" Jackie asked, nodding to the cones.

"Triangulates their point of origin." The Doctor replied, pointing his sonic screwdriver at it. Rose walked to his side.

"I don't suppose it's the Gelth?" She asked. Clara raised her eyebrows. What are Gelth?

"Nah. They were just coming through one little rift. This lot are transposing themselves over the whole planet. Like tracing paper." The Doctor answered vaguely.

"You're always doing this. Reducing it to science." Jackie complained. "Why can't it be real? Just think of it, though. All the people we've lost. Our families coming back home. Don't you think it's beautiful?" The Doctor thought about it a moment.

"I think it's horrific. Rose, give us a hand." Rose nodded, bending down to help. After a second, the Doctor led Rose into the TARDIS to plug some wire in. Clara, trying to ignore the tinge of jealousy in her heart when she watched them walk together, sat on a swing. She kicked her feet back and forth, watching them. Jackie walked over to her, sitting on the next swing. They watched as the cones lit up, the Doctor and Rose calling back and forth.

"Clara, come on! The TARDIS will be transported wherever the ghosts are coming from, so get in!" The Doctor called. Clara nodded, standing up. Jackie followed. They stepped into the TARDIS and watched some more as Rose and the Doctor worked.

Clara bit her lip, determined to not be jealous. The Doctor loved her, not Rose. Except, or course, the Doctor had never actually said that he loved her. Clara stared at her feet as the TARDIS rocked harshly.

"Allons-y!" The Doctor crowed as the TARDIS was transported. He laughed. "I like that. Allons-y. I should say allons-y more often. Allons-y." Rose laughed at him. Clara watched him amusedly.

"Doctor, you're rambling." She stated. He beamed at her.

"Allons-y, Clara!" He crowed. "You know, it would be really brilliant if I met someone called Alonso, because then I could say, 'Allons-y, Alonso', every time." He was moving as he blathered and noticed Rose staring at him. "You're staring at me."

"My mum's on board." She told him, half a smile on her face. Clara and the Doctor turned to see Jackie sitting on a railing.

"If we end up on Mars, I'm going to kill you." Jackie threatened, not sounding scary in the least. The Doctor scratched his ear, then jumped when the scanner made a noise. He bounded over to it, as did Rose. Clara, feeling a little left out, stayed put. The Doctor pouted at the screen; Clara heard the clear sound of guns being loaded. She assumed they were surrounded.

"Oh, well, there goes the advantage of surprise. Still, cuts to the chase." He stood straight and turned to Rose. "Stay in here, look after Jackie. Clara? Allons-y!" Clara beamed. He wanted her to go with him! She skipped over to him, taking his hand. Rose put her hands on her hips, a scowl on her lips.

"I'm not looking after my mum.," she insisted. The Doctor shrugged.

"Well, you brought her." Rose huffed.

"She came in with Clara!"

"I was kidnapped!" Jackie cried. The Doctor didn't stop, though. He and Clara were right at the door when Rose jumped in front of them, blocking their way.

"They've got guns." Rose reminded them.

"And we haven't. Which makes us the better people, don't you think? They can shoot us dead, but the moral high ground is ours." He moved Rose out of the way and opened the door. They walked out together, arms up. Clara shut the door behind her, keeping Rose inside. A well dressed woman ran up to them, an award winning smile plastered on her face.

"Oh! Oh, how marvelous. Oh, very good. Superb. Happy day." She cheered, clapping for the two of them. The soldiers put down their guns and joined her. Slowly, Clara and the Doctor lowered their arms.

"Er, thanks. Nice to meet you. I'm the Doctor." The Doctor said awkwardly. "And this is Clara."

"Oh, I should say. Hurray!" The woman cheered again. The Doctor raised his eyebrows, sharing a look with Clara.

"You- you've heard of me, then?" He asked. The woman laughed.

"Well of course we have. And I have to say, if it wasn't for you, none of us would be here. The Doctor and the TARDIS." She announced. There was more applause.

"And you are?" The Doctor asked. The woman waved her hand dismissively.

"Oh, plenty of time for that. But according to the records, you're not one for traveling alone. The Doctor and his companion. That's a pattern, isn't it, right? Is this her?"

"Yes, but it's not just her," the Doctor said. "Rose is here, as well. She's just a bit shy." The Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS as little as he could, stuck his arm inside, and grabbed someone. He pulled her out, shutting the door quickly. "Here she is, Rose Tyler."

But, it wasn't Rose that he grabbed. It was Jackie.

"Yea, not the best I've ever had. Bit too blonde. Not too steady on her pins. A lot of that." Jackie glowered at him as he tried to right his mistake. Clara crossed her arms, happy to watch him scramble out of his mess. "And just last week, she stared into the heart of the Time Vortex and aged fifty seven years. But she'll do." Jackie looked offended.

"I'm forty." She hissed. The Doctor shook his head.

"Deluded. Bless. I'll have to trade her in. Do you need anyone? She's very good at tea. Well, I say very good, I mean not bad. Well, I say not bad. Anyway, lead on. Allons y. But not too fast. Her ankle's going." He gestured for them to move on, only stopping his chattering when Clara elbowed him.

"I'll show you where my ankle's going." Jackie grumbled as they started walking. They walked a while until they made it to the central area of the building.

"It was only a matter of time until you found us, and at last you've made it." The woman who had greeted them said. "I'd like to welcome you, Doctor. Welcome to Torchwood."

* * *

**A/N: **Another chapter done! I hope you liked it. Let me know what you thought in a review.

BTW, I have a new Doctor Who story up. (I know, I know) It's Eleven/Rose, so go check it out!

Until next time, sweeties.


End file.
